Questions Arise About Shaken Baby Syndrome
There’s a new movement gaining momentum that casts doubts on the scientific evidence behind “shaken baby syndrome.” Medical and legal practitioners are begining to ask whether it is actually possible to shake a baby to death.
Shaken baby syndrome is usually diagnosed in the absence of physical signs of child abuse like bruises, cuts and broken bones. However, even without those symptoms, babies arrive at the emergency room with bleeding at the back of the eye, brain swelling and bleeding. This set of symptoms is often diagnosed as shaken baby syndrome and attributed to an adult vigorously shaking the baby.
Experts said that those three symptoms could only occur as the result of a shaking that produced forces equal to those of a car crash at speeds of 25-40 mph or a fall from a three story building. Some recent research using devices similar to crash test dummies suggests that aggressive shaking only produces injuries equal to those suffered in a 2-to 3-foot fall.
Reason and Discover magazine have published interesting articles about this growing group who are suspicious of shaken baby syndrome.
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