Bulletin: Daniel Green: Massachusetts; Prominent but increasingly controversial child-abuse expert Dr. Alice Newton believes that a 3-month-old Danvers baby was shaken by an angry father hard enough to cause a brain bleed and other substantial injuries. But a defense expert testified on Monday that Dr. Alice Newton overlooked other possible causes of the infant’s subdural hematoma, retinal bleeding and head swelling, including what he believes is a hereditary condition. Salem News.

"A prominent, but increasingly controversial child-abuse expert believes that a 3-month-old Danvers baby was shaken by an angry father hard enough to cause a brain bleed and other substantial injuries. But a defense expert testified on Monday that Dr. Alice Newton overlooked other possible causes of the infant’s subdural hematoma, retinal bleeding and head swelling, including what he believes is a hereditary condition.  Dr. Joseph Scheller, a Baltimore pediatric neurologist hired by Daniel Green’s lawyer, said he believes the infant’s brain bleed was caused by pressure from excess spinal fluid that collected in the area between the brain and the skull, a condition called benign extra-axial fluid collection. Green, 30, is on trial in Lawrence Superior Court, charged with assault and battery on a child causing substantial bodily injury, and permitting substantial bodily injury to a child. ........But Collins, the defense lawyer, sought to discredit Newton, whose work has come under increasing public scrutiny in several high-profile cases, including that of Aisling McCarthy, the Irish nanny accused of killing a 1-year-old child in her care, and the controversial Justina Pelletier case, in which Newton and her colleagues suspected that Pelletier’s parents were committing “medical child abuse.”   Collins specifically asked Newton about the case of Geoffrey Wilson, a Malden man charged with killing his 6-month-old son. Wilson’s lawyers hired an expert who discovered last year that the child had inherited a rare blood vessel disorder present in both his mother and grandmother. “That’s what the newspapers reported,” Newton responded. “Nonetheless, the case was dismissed,” Collins said, prompting an objection by Hopwood. The trial had been expected to conclude this week, but Hopwood was called away to deal with a family emergency. Because Scheller, who has yet to be cross-examined, was due to return to Baltimore Monday evening, and is not available again this week, the conclusion of the trial was postponed until July 30."

 http://www.salemnews.com/news/local_news/defense-questions-shaken-baby-claim/article_e83af960-697d-512d-b89b-531c31dc14b8.html