The Syndrome

How did the myth of “SBS” begin and who are the shocking people behind it who have built careers and profited from the theory? Both are unflinchingly identified. Shaken baby proponents want to silence their critics even as countless lives are ruined.

 #Physical Abuse of Children

In a 2009 policy statement, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended replacing the term shaken-baby syndrome with “abusive head trauma” to avoid the connotation that the mechanism of injury was specifically known for individual cases.

 The impact of the consensus statement on abusive head trauma in infants and young children

There have been high-profile news reports on the Cable News Network (CNN) and in The New York Times, along with governmental reports such as that by the Swedish Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Assessment of Social Services (SBU), that have discredited the diagnosis of AHT and turned it into a legal controversy

 The “New Science” of Abusive Head Trauma

There is much new science with respect to AHT. Without exception, valid and reproducible methods support the commonly held understanding of AHT: that children who present with severe symptoms and who are found to have SDH and RHs are very likely to have been victims of significant trauma

 When the Misdiagnosis Is Child Abuse

Some pediatricians are trained to determine whether kids’ injuries are accidental. Their assessments can be subjective—but they’re often accepted as fact. And when they’re wrong, parents can needlessly end up in jail.

Shift in shaken baby diagnoses began more than a decade ago

Society should be rightly shocked by any assault on its weakest members, wrote Guthkelch, who died in 2016. But there have been “instances in which both medical science and the law have gone too far in hypothesizing and criminalizing alleged acts of violence in which the only evidence has been the presence of the classic triad or even just one or two of its elements.”

A Spotlight on Shaken Baby Syndrome

Doctors come to a diagnosis of abusive head trauma after taking a careful history, examining the child, ordering diagnostic tests, consulting the scientific literature, and, most important, considering and objectively excluding a range of other possible diagnoses.

Anatomy of a Misdiagnosis

For decades, shaken baby syndrome has been, in essence, a medical diagnosis of murder. But going forward, prosecutors, judges and juries should exercise greater skepticism. The triad of symptoms alone cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that an infant has been fatally shaken.

Evidence of 'shaken baby' questioned by controversial study

A review has determined that a trio of head injuries that have played a crucial role in securing convictions in court aren’t always evidence of child abuse.

How Can Doctors Be Sure a Baby's Been Shaken?

For years, attorneys have relied on a specific set of symptoms to prove infant abuse—but now, some physicians are questioning the validity of the diagnosis of shaken-baby syndrome that has sent many caretakers to prison.

How Dubious Science Helped Put A New Jersey Woman In Prison

Since the 1980s, there has been a steady climb in convictions for SBS, sometimes referred to as abusive head trauma

More Doctors Questioning 'Shaken-Baby Syndrome'

For years, cases involving shaken-baby syndrome were often open-and-shut — with the last person to care for the child labeled the abuser. But Slate editor Emily Bazelon reports that a growing number of doctors say the syndrome could have alternate explanations.

Rethinking Shaken Baby Syndrome

The dispute over shaken baby syndrome is a bitter civil war. On one side, doctors, lawyers and other experts say the diagnosis is key to winning convictions of people accused of the most horrible acts of child abuse. Opponents say the diagnosis is used too freely and that sometimes, innocent people go to prison.

Shaken Baby Syndrome: A Diagnosis That Divides the Medical World

Shaken baby syndrome has been a recognized diagnosis for several decades, though many medical professionals now prefer the term abusive head trauma.

Shaken-Baby Syndrome Faces New Questions in Court

Many doctors who treat child abuse say that decades of clinical observation, as well as confessions, show that it’s possible for shaking alone to cause the triad of subdural and retinal bleeding and brain swelling. A 2009 position paper from the American Academy of Pediatrics, written by Cindy Christian, recommends that doctors use the more general term “abusive head trauma” but also calls shaking an “important mechanism” of such trauma.

The Dubious Science Of Shaken-Baby Syndrome

All this is not to say that everyone convicted of killing babies by shaking them is innocent, but many of them probably are. Obviously, when a baby dies of unexplained brain bleeding, abuse has to be at least considered.

We believe you harmed your child’: the war over shaken baby convictions

Expert witnesses who claim parents have been wrongly accused have been vilified and struck off. But the science is anything but certain. What happens to the truth when experts can’t agree?

Wrongly Imprisoned for Killing His Infant Daughter, a Father Could Go Free This Week

Dr. Norman Guthkelch is credited with identifying shaken baby syndrome but is concerned that the diagnosis as been applied too often.