If you or someone you care about has been wrongly accused of shaking or slamming an infant, you must learn everything you can about the controversy. A shocking number of cases represent misdiagnoses.
You will absolutely need all of the child’s medical records: family history, prenatal, birth, pediatric, EMT, ER, hospitalization, and follow-up; all imaging files or films, not just the reports; and in fatal cases, autopsy reports, autopsy photographs, slides, and tissue samples. For a handy checklist, see http://www.susancanthony.com/res/sbs/-pdf/medex.pdf
A number of people and organizations offer information and help to those wrongfully accused of shaking or slamming an infant.
- The Center for Integrity in the Forensic Sciences maintains a professional resource library for attorneys handling these cases. Send an email to info@cifsjustice.org or go to https://cifsjustice.org/contact-us/
- The Innocence Network has published a Statement on Shaken Baby Syndrome.
- Two historical law journal articles set out the fundamental legal problems with SBS in the courtroom
- Shaken Baby Syndrome: Medico-Legal Miscommunication and the Derailing of Justice, my own historical examination of the medical literature, tracks how SBS theory became so well accepted in the courtroom
- Two attorneys have published books:
- The Forensic Unreliability of the Shaken Baby Syndrome, by trial attorney Randy Papetti, reviews both the medical literature and the legal evolution of shaking theory
- Flawed Convictions: “Shaken Baby Syndrome” and the Inertia of Injustice, by Prof. Deborah Tuerkheimer, examines the legal basis of these convictions
- At least two attorneys with SBS experience offer professional support to defense attorneys new to the arena
- Mark Freeman in Pennsylvania
- Toni Blake in California
- Traumatic shaking: The role of the triad in medical investigations of suspected traumatic shaking, a systematic review – a study by a Swedish government body concluding that shaking theory lacks scientific underpinnings
- Evidence-Based Medicine and Shaken Baby Syndrome by Dr. Mark Donohoe, a 2003 literature review that applied the standards of evidence-based medicine and found the early literature lacking
- Analyses of SBS theory by emergency medicine specialist and forensic practitioner Steven Gabaeff, MD
- Biomechanical Analysis of Head Kinematics During Infant Shaking Versus Pediatric Activities of Everyday Living.
For a collection of documents summarizing the medical literature regarding facets of shaken baby theory, leave a message below. If you tell me you do not want the comment posted, I will not clear it for viewing
- Emeritus physics professor Richard Reimann has posted two visual aids:
- a YouTube video illustrating the effects of shaking versus impact, using an SBS demonstration doll
- a series of analyses of short-fall scenarios, with excellent illustrations
- The former nonprofit Protecting Innocent Families created this basic fact sheet about shaken baby, SBSFactSheet2016, which you are free to download and distribute.
- If your case involves a premature infant, see the PowerPoint by Dr. Varsha Atul Shah in Singapore, advising that prematurity predisposes to both breathing problems and brain bleeds, http://www.slideshare.net/varshatul/prematurity.
- For a fascinating collection of PowerPoint presentations about child abuse evidence in the courtroom, see http://sites.lsa.umich.edu/npcae/presentations/
- Dr. Michael Innes has approved posting on this blog his papers on scurvy imitating child abuse, liver dysfunction imitating child abuse, and the debunking of shaken baby theory
- Shaken: What to Do If You’re Wrongly Accused, by Susan C. Anthony, who also publishes her literature review of shaking theory
- Support Organizations
- Educational Organizations
- British resources:
- Exonerated parent Heather Toomey offers help with custody issues in shaking cases
- The False Allegations Support Organisation helps guide parents accused of any kind of abuse
- Parents Accused, a private solicitor, specializes in defending parents against false accusations
- The 5percenters offer help to parents accused of infant shaking
If you know an innocent person still in prison for a shaking conviction, consider looking up your regional Innocence Project, as some projects, but not all, are now reviewing SBS cases for possible appeal. Inundated with requests, they will require a lot of documentation before considering your case. The initial application normally needs to come from the inmate.
- The Innocence Network web site lists its regional members, at http://www.innocencenetwork.org/members
- Germany hosts an international innocence organization, at http://www.iippi.org/
- Why Can’t Uncle Come Home?, a first-rate children’s book about having a relative in jail
- Tales of exoneration
- Audrey Edmunds, It Happened to Audrey
- Heather Toomey, When Truth No Longer Matters
- Mary Weaver, Edges of Truth
- Journey With “Justice,” by Dan Schrock, the grueling story of his daughter’s conviction for the death of her own daughter
- The Forensic Unreliability of the Shaken Baby Syndrome, by trial attorney Randy Papetti, reviews both the medical literature and the legal evolution of shaking theory
- Flawed Convictions: “Shaken Baby Syndrome” and the Inertia of Injustice, by Prof. Deborah Tuerkheimer, examines the legal basis of these convictions
If you know an innocent person still in prison for a shaking conviction, consider looking up your regional Innocence Project, as some projects, but not all, are now reviewing SBS cases for possible appeal. Inundated with requests, they will require a lot of documentation before considering your case. The initial application normally needs to come from the inmate.
- The Innocence Network web site lists its regional members, at http://www.innocencenetwork.org/members
- Germany hosts an international innocence organization, at http://www.iippi.org/
For a collection of news stories in the arena, please see https://www.famjustice.org/archive.
Best wishes to us all.
On Shaken Baby 
Can you make a recommendation/referral for legal services support in Missouri? I am also interested in the racial breakdown of these kinds of cases in the United States. We are advocating for a young couple whose child has been diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy — but they are being investigated and accused of shaking their baby who has exhibited all the symptoms of IVF. Their treatment at the hands of medical professionals (like criminals) is not in the best interest of a baby born very premature and remains medically fragile.
Commendations on taking the initiative to help your friends, who will need both personal and professional support in this struggle. I have sent you a private email with some specifics.
I am curious if the petition is still valid to sign or has it already been submitted?
I was intrigued to happen upon this website because my son was wrongfully convicted of murder and given a life sentence in 2015. It wasn’t a “shaken baby case,” but one that involved a young child that sustained a fractured skull as a result of one or more short falls. Despite the medical expert testimony for my son (including Dr. Van Ee) during trial that these falls could very well be responsible for the injuries sustained, medical experts for the State during trial took the position that there would have been no “lucid” interval after a short fall causing this injury. The end result was with no motive, no weapon, no evidence of abuse, and no witnesses, my son was convicted because he was the last adult alone in the home with the child for a period of 20 minutes. He also has Asperger’s Syndrome, so in this small conservative southern town, the elected DA was able to convince the jury he was “weird” and must be violent, which couldn’t be further from the truth. So, a gentle, caring, loving young man with no prior record and not so much as a parking ticket to his name, was convicted of 1st degree murder and given life.
I am eager to learn the status of the petition as well as any other work being done or progress being made in your groups endeavors to help innocent individuals convicted of child abuse. Thank you.
Thank you for reaching out, and please accept my condolences on your family’s tragedy.
Yes, the petition is still open. The people who put it together are now trying to organize themselves to take the petition to Congress with as much publicity as possible around the issue of wrongful accusations of child physical abuse. I have sent you a private email about their efforts. Anyone who is interested in helping can leave a message here, or see their web site at https://protectinginnocentfamilies.wordpress.com/
I would very much like documents summarizing the medical literature regarding various aspects of shaken baby theory. I’ve been falsely accused.
Please accept my condolences on being drawn into this nightmare. I hope your child is doing well.
I have sent you a private email.
I am currently going through this as well. I made false statements due to the mind tricks they played on me and now they are trying to charge me with something I didnt do. He had the Sdh and RH and with no bruises, broken bones nothing. I need help! Currently serving in the USMC
I’m so glad you found my site. I’ve sent you a private email——please post again if you don’t receive it.
Best wishes to you and your family.
My husband is being accused of shaking our son when he was two months old. No charges at all and this happened September 12, 2014. CPS in oklahoma is the only agnecy claiming the impossible here. I need info on Iron-Deficiency Anemia/Venous Thrombosis/SBS if you would have any.
I don’t have detailed papers bout iron-deificiency anemia or venous thrombosis, but I have sent you a separate email with some information about shaken baby syndrome. Please leave another message if you don’t receive them. I hope you have an attorney who understands that your husband really is innocent, as well as a complete set of the medical records.
need some help. looking for anything or anyone that can help me in my case I am being accused of child abuse my child has some brain bleeding an retina bleed all symptoms are minor but dhs took my kids an doctor has labeled it as SBS the said it was AHT. please help me get my kids back there has got to be something else wrong with my baby bc it’s not child abuse!!!!
I’ve sent you a private email. Many good wishes to your infant and your family.
My Brother is being Falsely accused of SBS, because he was the last one with his Girlfriends Daughter. Is there any more helpful info that was not in your Resource section? Please help.
Best wishes to your brother and your family, and to the little girl. I have sent you a private email. If you haven’t received it, please leave another note. -S.
I am currently about to start proceedings where they are trying to take my baby away by falsely accusing his father of sbs and I am in need of any resources available. I would very much appreciate any and all help you can offer. Thank you in advance. (Also, I live in California if that makes any difference)
I operated an in home daycare in Texas legally. One child in my care had a medical emergency and it had an unfortunate outcome. I never heard anything about this again until I found out I was being arrested for allegedly injuring the child 5 months later. Stating on my arrest warrant Injury to a Child Causing Non-Accidental Head Trauma. I have not been indicted on anything with no evidence, even a search of my home was empty. There was a hospitalized visit for the child being admitted for 3 days Friday-Sunday. The child was not in my care again until the day of this event. I later found out that the cause of death was SBS while my husband was in CPS court for our 4 children in regards to this. The child did not attend my daycare on a daily basis with the schedule alternating between me and the child father caring for her. Due to this being an ongoing ordeal I do not want to say much more. I have a no contact order in place for my children, and awaiting to see and praying this be dropped as well. Please help!
I have sent you a private message. Many good wishes.
I’ve been falsely accused of SBS. I’ve said from day one something was wrong with my baby girl. I need help please! Thank You!
I’ve sent you a private email. Many good wishes. -Sue
My best friend has been in prison for nearly 13 years due to an SBS conviction in the death of his infant son. He was poorly represented at the time, and feels as though this was put on him because he was the last adult with his son, but no other evidence was considered (like his son having a serious illness prior to his death, or the fact that his son was also cared for by the child’s mother and her family primarily, etc) it was documented that the initial cause of death was related to the child’s illness and documented as such at one hospital, and then the information was later changed . My heart goes out to him, because he has suffered tremendous loss and knows very little about the help available to him out here being that he has been in the CA prison system wasting away for the past 13 years on a 25 to life sentence. I welcome any and every bit of resources you can provide me with, so that I can try to help him. While in prison he has lost both of his parents and his support system only consists of myself and his older brother who resides out of state, I really have no idea where to start or who to go to to ask for help on his behalf. I appreciate your time and any help you can provide. Thank you for the information you offer on this site and for giving hope to those who, like my friend have been hopeless for so long, I told him about your site and he said “then maybe somebody out there is going to believe me.”
I’m glad you have found this site, especially the Resources page. I have sent you a private email.
My sister and brother-in-law are dealing with this right now in New Jersey. The baby is 5 weeks old and has been in the hospital for 2 weeks with subdural hematoma. She will be discharged in the next few days. They were told today that they are removing the baby from their custody. The custody hearing will be 48 hours after discharge from the hospital. They hired a lawyer yesterday. Do you have any advice for them? I would like to help them as much as I can.
I’ve sent you a private email. The first priority is to get ALL of the medical records, including pre-natal, birth, well baby checkups, and everything surrounding the incident that led to the diagnosis. There’s a handy checklist in one of the files I’m sending you.
Best wishes to your sister and her family.
Please help! My husband has been accused of SBS. We need names of doctors that can look at the information to help prove the prosecutors doctor is wrong. Please, please help soon…we are running out of time.
I have sent you a private email. Many good wishes.
My wife and I are being accused of abusing our 3 month old angel after a fall from his changing table. No one seems to be listening to us and we are scared. Do you know of any resources available in Memphis, TN? Thank you.
No one is listening to you because the child abuse experts have told police and social services that children can’t receive serious injuries in short household falls. You will have to prove otherwise, I’m afraid. Difficult as it is to believe if you haven’t seen it first hand, sincere physicians trained with a flawed model of infant head injury have been targeting innocent families for decades.
I see you’ve already found my Resources page, which is a good first step.
I’ve sent you a private email with more information. Many good wishes in the ordeal to come.
FYI this baby had a skull fracture due to blunt force trauma. He has now been convicted and is looking at as much as 29 years.
I am sorry to hear this news. A skull fracture does not prove abuse. Both the medical literature and the media feature reports of infant skull fractures from falls of four feet or less. See, for example, http://abc7ny.com/news/moms-questions-linger-after-infants-skull-fractured-in-hospital/1417305/
No it doesnt mean that abuse necessarily occurred but the opthamologists testimonies confirmed. Also, you might want to look at the history on this individual. Seriously…
http://www.wmcactionnews5.com/story/36448284/father-convicted-of-abusing-3-month-old-son
People are falsely accused. However, some people are monsters.
Thank you for commenting.
According to the article you link, the father said the baby fell off a changing table, and the child abuse experts said the injuries are more consistent with abuse. I do agree that the father’s history of violence is a very bad sign, but in fact, there is no biomechanical evidence to support the theory, popular among child abuse experts, that pediatric short falls are benign.
The pediatric ophthalmologists, meanwhile, believe they can tell the difference between retinal hemorrhages caused by abuse and retinal hemorrhages caused by accidental impact—but again, there is no objective evidence to support their opinions. At this point, decades of convictions based on unproven theories have given the false impression that those theories have been proven.
Sue, where is that movie that you posted going to be viewed? Is it viewable to the public. I forget what it was called. Nancy
It will premier Oct. 12 at the Kansas International Film Festival, and then it will be shown later in the month at the Twin Cities Film Festival.
For the trailer:
http://www.resetfilms.com/
For my interview with the filmmaker: https://onsbs.com/2014/09/10/the-syndrome-promises-fireworks/
Hello Sue,
I am also currently fighting charges and a CPS case regarding my infant son, any information you could provide would be more than helpful!
Thanks in advance!
Best wishes. I am sending you a private email. -S.
Hello, we are currently fighting against a false sbs accusation. I am desperate to find dr.s in michigan to take my one year old to that can look at her with an open mind look at all the facts to tell us what actually happened to our child. I want an accurate diagnosis but don’t know where to find on a good Dr. Are there any resources I can find to help us?
I have sent you an email. Many good wishes to you and your child.
My Daughter was falsely accused of shaken baby in 2001 and is now in prison, I need to find all information proving a short distance fall can cause the same injuries as shaken baby, or any other help you can provide.that will help us in her case.
Thank you for commenting. I am sending you an email.
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I would like help, resources and advise pertaining to fighting SBS case. I am being falsely accused and need help proving my innocence.
Thank you,