- LONDON (Reuters) - Doctors
called on Friday for a rethink of shaken-baby syndrome after researchers
cast doubt on one of the symptoms used to identify it.
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- The syndrome results from violently shaking an infant
and is recognized by bleeding around the brain and from the eye, along
with brain damage. It made international headlines in 1997 when British
nanny Louise Woodward was convicted of killing a baby boy in Massachusetts
by shaking him violently.
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- Now British and American scientists said there are serious
questions about the syndrome and how it is diagnosed.
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- "We need to reconsider the diagnostic criteria,
if not the existence, of shaken-baby syndrome," said John Plunkett,
of the Regina Medical Center in Hasting, Minnesota, and JF Geddes a retired
pediatric pathologist.
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- "If the concept of shaken-baby syndrome is scientifically
uncertain, we have a duty to re-examine the validity of other beliefs in
the field of infant injury," they added in a British Medical Journal
editorial.
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- Concerns about the validity of the syndrome arose after
Patrick Lantz of Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem,
North Carolina found little medical evidence to show that bleeding from
the eye results only from physical abuse.
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- They searched for medical evidence after a 14-month-old
baby suffered head and eye injuries after a television fell on him at his
home.
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- Despite the father explaining it was an accident, the
three-year old brother of the baby was taken into custody because the injuries
suffered by the baby were thought to have been caused by severe shaking.
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- The three-year old was returned home after investigators
proved that the father was telling the truth.
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- "Until good evidence is available, we urge caution
in interpreting eye findings out of context," Lantz said in a letter
to the journal.
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- In a separate editorial, doctors from Great Ormond Street
Hospital for Children in London said bleeding from the eye can also be
caused by accidental injuries.
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- They added that a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome should
not be based on just one symptom but if all are present it indicates that
excessive force had been used.
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-
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- Comment
- From Marjorie Tietjen
- 3-27-4
-
- Hi Jeff,
-
- I just wanted to add some information in response to
the article " Doctors Question Evidence For Shaken Baby Syndrome".
Many parents around the world are being accused of murdering their babies
by shaking them to death. It seems that Sudden Infant Death Syndrome used
to be the fad diagnosis or reason for unexplained death. Many of these
deaths are due to the side effects of vaccines. Vaccines can cause the
bleeding in the eyes and other symptoms which are supposedly attributed
to shaking a baby. I would be interested to know how many of these parents
were actually caught in the act of shaking their baby.
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- Alan Yurko is a good example of a parent falsely accused
of this crime. He has been sentenced to life in prison. If people want
to learn more about how parents are being blamed for murdering their babies
when it appears that in many cases, it is really the vaccine industry
which is responsible, please visit The Yurko Project at <http://www.freeyurko.bizland.com>http://www.freeyurko.bizland.com
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