They are absolutely still teaching this in medical school.
They are absolutely still teaching this in medical school. Further, you are taught to differentiate the types of hemorrhages you may see, and there is a specific description that is supposed to be shaken baby syndrome. Nobody wants to see child abuse, but wrongly accusing and/or convicting someone is just as devastating to people's lives. We need science and logic, not dogma and emotion. This is too important.
Unfortunately, I think the last sentence from the article explains it all:
“A baby has died,” she said simply. “They want to blame somebody.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/magazine/06baby-t.html?_r=2&ref=magazine
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/magazine/06baby-t.html?_r=2&ref=magazine
Unfortunately, I think the last sentence from the article explains it all:
“A baby has died,” she said simply. “They want to blame somebody.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/magazine/06baby-t.html?_r=2&ref=magazine
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/06/magazine/06baby-t.html?_r=2&ref=magazine
The worst part of my old job as transcriptionist for pathologists: Infant autopsies.
ReplyDeleteAmong the bravest pediatricans I have ever known, were those who volunteer for the specialty of Child Abuse. The rotation I did on that service was probably the most nightmarish part of my entire medical career, and probably always will be. My specialty is easy, compared to theirs.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, that article dates from 2011. Doing a quick Pubmed search, there does appear to be a body of research since that supports the idea that certain injuries - like severe multi-layer retinal hemorrhages - have very few alternative explanations other than inflicted head trauma [1]. It does look like people have been systematically looking at the questions raised in the 2011 article, and confirming that the standard teaching about physical signs of child abuse is largely accurate.
I agree that, with the stakes this high, we absolutely need the best, most objective science possible. It does seem like, in a brief review, that's exactly what has been, and is being, done.
[1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24786369