Last night Panorama featured the case of Keran Henderson, convicted of the manslaughter of Maeve Sheppard by violent shaking. Unfortunately I managed to catch only part of it but the programme clearly covered an important and controversial topic – shaken baby syndrome.
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Although the programme included footage regarding apparently credible evidence that suggests that shaken baby syndrome simply does not exist – that is to say that the violent shaking of a baby cannot produce enough force to cause the types of injuries with which it is associated (brain and retinal bleeding) – it is apparent from the BBC article linked above (and probably from the section of the programme that I missed) that the research in question has yet to be peer reviewed or indeed even published. We will have to wait and see what its significance really is, but if this research is correct it will probably not just be Keran Henderson who launches an appeal.
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And either way it is not just Keran Henderson and her friends and family that this affects. I have perhaps been more conscious of this case than I would otherwise have been because those involved live so close by to my home.
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