Author Archives: Phil Locke

This article addresses Shaken Baby Syndrome, SBS (now officially renamed Abusive Head Trauma – AHT), and the so-called “triad” of symptoms that the bulk of the medical establishment and the justice system say are pathognomonic (exclusively indicative of) of SBS.  The “triad” consists of retinal hemorrhage, subdural hematoma, and diffuse edema of the brain, and according to largely prevailing medical wisdom, violent shaking or abusive head trauma is the only thing that can cause these symptoms in an infant or child – not diseases or genetic conditions or short falls.

Documented, witnessed baby shakings are a rare event.  Charges of SBS are almost universally brought against care givers in situations in which there are no witnesses, and the determination of SBS rests solely upon a medical opinion.  Prof. Deborah Tuerkheimer of DePaul University has said that a “post mortem determination of SBS is essentially a medical diagnosis of murder.”

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Sue Luttner is the editor of a blog called OnSBS.  (OnSBS.com)  After reading a recent Quick Click on the Wrongful Convictions Blog, she was inspired to author a post on her blog.  The Quick Click in question is one about the San Antonio Four – four young women who were wrongfully convicted and incarcerated for what was described as “Satanic cult child abuse”; even though the theory of Satanic cult child abuse had been debunked years prior to that.  You can read the Quick Click article here.  [Sidebar:  You may remember the McMartin Preschool case from the 80’s, which was driven, at least in part, by a wave of “Satanic cult ritualistic abuse” paranoia that had taken the country.  This was the longest and most expensive criminal trial in US history, and eventually, all charges against all defendants were dismissed; although, one of the defendants had already spent 5 years in prison.  This was truly a black mark on the US justice system.]

In the post, Sue draws an insightful parallel between the debunking of the old Satanic cult theories and those of the entrenched medical dogma of SBS and the “triad” (a combination of three symptoms said to be uniquely indicative of SBS).  See Sue’s OnSBS post here.  She very appropriately titles the post Old Theories Die Hard.

I’d like to leverage off the message of that title within the context of SBS.  I once heard pathologist and anti-triad crusader Dr. John Plunkett say, “It takes 10 years to get a new idea into medicine, but it takes 100 years to get a bad idea out of medicine.”  I believe he was speaking from experience.  There has been much recent, new, and still emerging research that clearly calls into question the 100% validity of the triad.  There’s lots of other stuff that can cause a child to present with retinal hemorrhage, subdural hematoma, or diffuse edema.  And the old theories that triad symptoms can’t be caused by short falls, and that there’s no such thing as “lucid invertal” have been proven absolutely untrue.  However, the vast majority of the medical community seems to turn a blind eye to it.  How can that be?

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