Thursday, July 30, 2015

Bulletin: Aisling Brady McCarthy; (Dubbed the 'Irish Nanny' case): Medical examiner asks for more time to review findings in death of 1-year-old: "The move (for the examination) came amid growing doubts about the underlying science in abusive head trauma diagnoses, and followed a revised ruling last summer in the death of a 6-month-old boy in Malden. In that case, the medical examiner’s office initially ruled that the infant died from shaking injuries to the head, but after receiving more information about the family’s medical history ruled the manner of death could not be determined. A number of outside medical specialists concluded that the infant had died of natural causes. In light of the change, Middlesex prosecutors dropped murder charges against the child’s father." Boston Globe;

"In a brief hearing Thursday, a lawyer for the state medical examiner’s office said it had not completed its review of the medical evidence in the 2013 death of a Cambridge infant, and wanted the chief medical examiner to review the case as well. “There’s been no final conclusion,’’ Jacqueline Faherty, general counsel for the state agency, said in Middlesex Superior Court. She estimated the review would be completed in two to four weeks. The review began in April, but Faherty said the medical examiner’s office did not receive all the evidence until June. The office requested a few additional items Wednesday, which were not specified. Rehma Sabir’s nanny, Aisling Brady McCarthy, has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of the 1-year-old girl based in part on the pathologist’s conclusion that the child died from traumatic head injuries. Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan’s office has alleged McCarthy caused those injuries while she was caring for the child in the family’s Cambridge home. But defense attorneys have cited a range of specialists who question the pathologist’s conclusions.........The move came amid growing doubts about the underlying science in abusive head trauma diagnoses, and followed a revised ruling last summer in the death of a 6-month-old boy in Malden. In that case, the medical examiner’s office initially ruled that the infant died from shaking injuries to the head, but after receiving more information about the family’s medical history ruled the manner of death could not be determined. A number of outside medical specialists concluded that the infant had died of natural causes. In light of the change, Middlesex prosecutors dropped murder charges against the child’s father. Under the law, the medical examiner must identify the cause of death as a homicide in order for a murder prosecution to take place. Prosecutors allege that Sabir was in McCarthy’s sole care when she suffered massive brain injuries, which included extensive bleeding in her brain and the back of her eyes. Specialists said she was subjected to violent force and that the injuries not have been inflicted before that day. But McCarthy’s lawyers have maintained her innocence, citing medical opinions that the child sustained bone and compression fractures several weeks before her death, when she was traveling abroad with her family without McCarthy. The next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 28. The trial is slated to begin in October and last about six weeks."
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/07/30/medical-examiner-office-needs-more-time-review-findings-death-year-old/vx8EnlWDvIMVFPuH82BwZN/story.html