Child abuse pediatricians have been in the headlines this season, at least in forums that still support investigative journalism.
Jessica Lussenhop at ProPublica, for example, has published a potent 2-part series about suspected shenanigans in Minnesota:
- A Doctor Challenged the Opinion of a Powerful Child Abuse Specialist. Then He Lost His Job, June 30, 2025
- This Doctor Specializes in Diagnosing Child Abuse. Some of Her Conclusions Have Been Called Into Question, July 1, 2025
And in Florida, the First Coast News has been following the story of a controversial child abuse pediatrician who has now resigned, after leaving jobs in both Wisconsin and Alaska amid complaints like those raised in Florda:
- Resignation, Internal investigation says controversial child abuse pediatrician was found to violate UF policy, by Tobie Nell Perkins, July 1, 2025
- First reports, ‘We are in the middle of being bullied’: 9 members of Child Protection Team call for end of ‘toxic’ work environment, by Heather Crawford, January 1, 2025
These stories remind me of the parent activists in Leheigh Valley, Pennsylvania, who started organizing in 2023 against their local child abuse expert, ultimately forcing her resignation. My own posting about a report from their county assessor on the costs of misdiagnosis covers some of the group’s first public actions. The headlines from ABC Action News tell the larger tale:
- Munchausen syndrome by proxy diagnoses under question in Lehigh County, August 2023
- Doctor accused of misdiagnosing families with rare form of medical child abuse reassigned, September 2023
- Families file lawsuit against Pa. health network alleging misdiagnosis of Munchausen by proxy February 2024
- Lehigh Valley Health Network doctor at center of misdiagnosis controversy retires March 2024
November 2025 update: A father convicted of murder based on a diagnosis by the former Lehigh Valley child abuse pediatrician has been released from prison, in a bittersweet development, ‘It’s surreal’: Lehigh Co. man freed after 9 years in prison over flawed testimony on infant death
Tying It All Together
Investigative journalist Pamela Colloff, in a first-rate article last winter in the New York Times (“He Dialed 911 to Save His Baby. Then His Children Were Taken Away“) weaves one family’s compelling story into an examination of the tensions between the physicians who diagnose abuse and the physicians who question the reliability of a Shaken Baby Syndrome diagnosis (now known as Abusive Head Trauma).
Colloff also published a fabulous treatment of the Russell Maze case last year: “He was sent to prison for killing his baby. What If He Didn’t Do It?“
A couple of decades ago, after years tracking the footnotes through the medical literature, I concluded that shaken baby theory hit the courtroom before its scientific underpinnings were established, and then the pressures of litigation encouraged child-abuse experts to adopt and defend an early, flawed model of a complex physiological condition. The resulting convictions have calcified unproven core beliefs about both mechanism and timing. Parents of children with rare and misunderstood illnesses and injuries are still paying the price.
-Sue Luttner
If you are not familiar with the debate surrounding Shaken Baby Syndrome, please see the home page of this blog.
On Shaken Baby 