POST: "Shaking theorists repel criticism," by Sue Luttner, published by "On SBS" on April 30, 2015.
GIST: (The bad news): "While ripples persist in the wake of last month’s news stories questioning shaken baby syndrome in the courtroom, innocent parents and babysitters are still going to prison and most press coverage still treats shaking theory as established fact." (The even worse news): Now the news magazine of the American Academy of Pediatrics, AAP News, has published a commentary that dismisses the controversy as a “false debate” and criticizes The Washington Post coverage in March as “unbalanced, sowing doubt on scientific issues that actually are well-established.” The commentary’s authors, Drs. Howard Dubowitz and Errol R. Alden, argue that both the Post article and the PBS NewsHour segment that ran the same week make too much fuss over the views of only a few doctors: "What are the facts? Similar to the so-called debate over climate change, it involves a tiny cadre of physicians. These few physicians testify regularly for the defense in criminal trials — even when the medical evidence indicating abuse is overwhelming. They deny what science in this field has well-established. They are well beyond the bounds where professionals may disagree reasonably. Instead, they concoct different and changing theories, ones not based on medical evidence and scientific principles. All they need to do in the courtroom is to obfuscate the science and sow doubt.".........Sue Luttner provides an utterly depressing review of disturbing cases, demonstrates that the pediatric shaken baby syndrome advocates are more strident than ever, and sends out the message that a great deal more must be done to educate the public and the criminal justice system that there are other causes than abuse for subdural hematoma, retinal hemorrhages, and encephalopathy. (An important message. A grim read, indeed. HL);
The entire post can be found at:
http://onsbs.com/2015/04/30/shaking-theorists-repel-criticism/
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
