Utah Law Review Society by Genie Lyons
Summary
Shaken baby syndrome in its most extreme form – assuming abuse when a child has two specific brain injuries but no other signs of trauma – quite possibly does not exist. Other countries are not so quick to find abuse where there are no external indicia: Eva Lai Wah Fung, a Hong Kong researcher writing in Pediatric International states, “Retinal hemorrhage and subdural hematoma without external signs of injury in Japan and Hong Kong is usually attributed to accidental, trivial head injury, whereas subdural heamoraghe associated with external signs of trauma to the face or head were commonly found in cases of genuine child abuse. In spite of the many scientific studies that uncritically accept the existence of SBS, an adequate link between shaking a baby and the two SBS markers has never been scientifically verified and the latest evidence points strongly to organic reasons for the babies’ distress, as opposed to shaking.
Courts should admit, under Daubert, that evidence showing that the two classic medical signs used to show that a child had been deliberately shaken to the point of injury or death is insufficient proof that a crime has been committed.
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