Shaken Baby Syndrome: Investigating the Abusive Head Trauma Controversy

ISBN-13: 9781009384766 / Angielski

Keith A. Findley; Cyrille Rossant; Kana Sasakura

Opis

Since the early 2000s, a growing body of scientific studies in neuropathology, neurology, neurosurgery, biomechanics, statistics, criminology and psychology has cast doubt on the forensic reliability of medical determinations of Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS), more recently termed Abusive Head Trauma (AHT). Studies have increasingly documented that accidental short falls and a wide range of medical conditions, can cause the same symptoms and findings associated with this syndrome. Nevertheless, inaccurate diagnoses, unrealistic confidence expression, and wrongful convictions continue to this day. Bringing together contributions from a multidisciplinary expert panel of 32 professionals across 8 countries in 16 different specialties, this landmark book tackles the highly controversial topic of SBS, which lies at the intersection of medicine, science, and law. With comprehensive coverage across multiple disciplines, it explains the scientific evidence challenging SBS and advances efforts to evaluate how deaths and serious brain injuries in infants should be analysed and investigated.

Spis treści

Preface Barry Scheck; Part I. Prolog: 1. Maintaining the orthodoxy and silencing dissent Chris Brook; 2. The history of SBS Randy Papetti; Part II. Medicine: 3. The neuropathology of SBS or retinodural haemorrhage of infancy Waney Squier and Tommie Olofsson; 4. The importance of the correlation between radiology and pathology in SBS Waney Squier and Julie Mack; 5. SBS, AHT – or just a type of hydrocephalus? Knut Wester and Johan Wikström; 6. SBS or benign external hydrocephalus – how is AHT depicted in the scientific literature? Knut Wester and Johan Wikström, Jose; 7. Are some cases of sudden infant death syndrome incorrectly diagnosed as SBS? Marta Cohen; 8. AHT: the importance of predisposing factors Bernard Echenne; 9. How I became a SBS skeptic paediatrician Marvin Miller; Part III. Science: 10. The Swedish systematic literature review on suspected traumatic shaking (SBS) and its aftermath Niels Lynoe and Anders Eriksson; 11. Interrogation and the infanticide suspect: mechanisms of vulnerability to false confession Deborah Davis and Richard Leo; 12. Can confession substitute for science in SBS/AHT? Keith Findley; 13. Cognitive bias in medicolegal judgments Jeff Kukucka and Keith Findley; 14. Biomechanical forensic analysis of shaking and short fall head injury mechanisms in infants and young children Kirk Thibault; 15. When lack of information leads to apparent paradoxes and wrong conclusions: analysis of a seminal article on short falls Leila Schneps; 16. Epidemiology of findings claimed to be highly specific for SBS/AHT, a prerequisite to improve diagnosis of child abuse Ulf Högberg; 17. SBS: exploring concerns about the 'triad' diagnosis and its statistical validation using a causal Bayesian network Norman Fenton and Scott McLachlan; Part IV. Law: 18. Mandatory reporting of child maltreatment Felicity Goodyear-Smith; 19. SBS/AHT opinion evidence in US Courts Kathleen Pakes; 20. Undoing wrongful convictions: exonerating the innocent in SBS/AHT cases Keith Findley; Part V. International: 21. Ptolemy rather than Copernicus – the state of SBS in the British legal system Clive Stafford Smith; 22. SBS in France Cyrille Rossant and Grégoire Etrillard; 23. Sweden and SBS/AHT Ulf Högberg and Goran Högberg; 24. SBS/AHT in Japan Kana Sasakura; 25. SBS in Australia Chris Brook and Michael Nott; 26. SBS around the world; Part VI. Postface: 27. Conclusion.