by Brian Shilhavy
Editor, Health Impact News
Attorneys Randy Papetti, Paige Kaneb and Lindsay Herf have just published an article in Santa Clara Law Review titled: OUTSIDE THE ECHO CHAMBER: A RESPONSE TO THE “CONSENSUS STATEMENT ON ABUSIVE HEAD TRAUMA IN INFANTS AND YOUNG CHILDREN.”
“Abusive Head Trauma” (AHT) is the newer term for what has been called “Shaken Baby Syndrome” (SBS).
In the medical field of pediatrics, Child Abuse Specialists have increasingly been used by Child Protective Social Services (CPS) across the country to take children away from their parents based primarily on the examination of x-rays.
The entire field of pediatric child abuse diagnoses has become very controversial, and all across the country parents and caregivers wrongly accused of child abuse by these pediatric Child Abuse Specialists are having their cases overturned, as the courts are recognizing the flaws in diagnosing SBS or AHT.
Basically, if a parent or caregiver has been convicted of child abuse based only on the testimony of one doctor, and that doctor being a “Child Abuse Specialist,” judges are ordering re-trials so that other doctors and science can be presented to refute SBS/AHT diagnoses.
As a result, many legal associations and publications have been training attorneys on how to fight false child abuse charges. The Innocence Project, for example, will take on SBS/AHT cases in all 50 states now, so prevalent is the problem of false convictions of child abuse….Read More