Medical Forum / General / General / October 2004
Shaken Baby Syndrome - the vaccination link - by Viera Scheibner
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Quintal - 29 Oct 2004 12:14 GMT francom.esoterisme,fr.bio.medecine,sci.med,fr.soc.complots,alt.conspiracy
http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/shakenbaby1.html
Shaken Baby Syndrome - the vaccination link - Many infants who suffer the so-called 'shaken baby syndrome' may be victims of undiagnosed vaccine damage.
Extracted from Nexus Magazine, Volume 5, #5 (August-September '98). PO Box 30, Mapleton Qld 4560 Australia.(snip) From our web page at: www.nexusmagazine.com
© 1998 by Viera Scheibner, PhD (snip)
Recently there has been quite an "epidemic" of the so-called "shaken baby syndrome". Parents, usually the fathers, or other care-givers such as nannies have increasingly been accused of shaking a baby to the point of causing permanent brain damage and death. Why? Is there an unprecedented increase in the number of people who commit infanticide or have an ambition to seriously hurt babies? Or is there something more sinister at play?
Some time ago I started getting requests from lawyers or the accused parents themselves for expert reports. A close study of the history of these cases revealed something distinctly sinister: in every single case, the symptoms appeared shortly after the baby's vaccinations.
While investigating the personal medical history of these babies based on the care-givers' diaries and medical records, I quickly established that these babies were given one or more of the series of so-called routine shots-hepatitis B, DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus), polio and HiB (Haemophilus influenzae type B)-shortly before they developed symptoms of illness resulting in serious brain damage or death.
The usual scenario is that a baby is born and does well initially. At the usual age of about two months it is administered the first series of vaccines as above. (Sometimes a hepatitis B injection is given shortly after birth while the mother and child are still in hospital. However, a great number of babies now die within days or within two to four weeks of birth after hepatitis B vaccination, as documented by the records of the VAERS [Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System] in the USA.) So, the baby stops progressing, starts deteriorating, and usually develops signs of respiratory tract infection. Then comes the second and third injections, and tragedy strikes: the child may cry intensely and inconsolably, may stop feeding properly, vomit, have difficulty swallowing, become irritable, stop sleeping, and may develop convulsions with accelerating progressive deterioration of its condition and mainly its brain function.
This deterioration may be fast, or may slowly inch in until the parents notice that something is very wrong with their child and then rush it to the doctor or hospital. Interestingly, they are invariably asked when the baby was immunised. On learning that the baby was indeed "immunised", the parents may be reassured that its symptoms will all clear up. They are sent home with the advice, "Give your baby Panadol". If they persist in considering the baby's reaction serious, they may be labelled as anxious parents or trouble-makers. So the parents go home, and the child remains in a serious condition or dies.
Until recently, the vaccine death would have just been labelled "sudden infant death", particularly if the symptoms and pathological findings were minimal. However, nowadays, with an alarmingly increasing frequency, the parents (or at least one of them, usually the father) may be accused of shaking the baby to death. The accused may even "confess" to shaking the baby, giving the reason, for example, that having found the baby lying still and not breathing and/or with a glazed look in its eyes, they shook it gently-as is only natural-in their attempt to revive it. Sometimes, ironically, they save the baby's life, only to be accused of causing the internal injuries that made the baby stop breathing in the first place, and which in fact were already present when they shook the baby to revive it.
No matter what the parents say or do, everything is construed against them. If they are crying and emotional, they will be accused of showing signs of guilt. If they manage to remain composed and unemotional, they will be called calculating and controlling-and guilty because of that.
In another scenario the distraught parents try to describe the symptoms to an attending doctor in hospital or a surgery but are totally at a loss to understand what has happened to their baby. To their shock and dismay, they later discover that while they were describing the observed symptoms, the doctor or another staff member was writing three ominous words in the medical record: shaken baby syndrome.
Many of these parents end up indicted and even sentenced to prison for a crime that somebody else committed. Some of these cases have been resolved by acquittal on appeal or have been won based on expert reports demonstrating vaccines as the cause of the observed injuries or death. However, only God and a good lawyer can help those parents or care-givers who happen to be uneducated, or have a criminal record, particularly for violence, or have a previous history of a similar "unexplained" death of a baby in their care, or, worse still, a vaccine-injured baby with a broken arm or fractured skull. More and more often, the unfortunate parents are given the option of a "deal": if they confess and/or plead guilty, they will get only a couple of years in prison; but if they don't, they may end up getting 20 years.
I was told by a social worker in the United States that many foster parents are rotting in US prisons. First, they are forced to vaccinate their charges, and then, when side effects or death occur, they are accused of causing them.
Inevitably the possibility exists that infanticide or child abuse is involved in some of the cases. However, there is no determinable reason why so many parents or other care-givers would suddenly begin to behave like this. It is incredibly insensitive and callous to immediately suspect and accuse the distraught, innocent parents of harming their own baby.
MEDICAL STUDIES
Let's now have a look at medical literature dealing with shaken baby syndrome and child abuse.
Caffey (1972, 1974)1,2 described the "whiplash shaken infant syndrome" as a result of manual shaking by the extremities with whiplash-induced intracranial and intraocular bleedings, linked with permanent brain damage and mental retardation. He referred to his own paper, published almost 30 years prior to the above-quoted papers, which described what he called "the original six battered babies in 1945". The essential elements in this description were subdural haematomas, intraocular bleedings and multiple traction changes in the long bones. These findings became a benchmark of the "evidence" that a child had been shaken before developing these signs.
Reece (1993)3 analysed fatal child abuse and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and considered the critical diagnostic decisions. He emphasised that distinguishing between an unexpected infant death due to SIDS and one due to child abuse challenges paediatricians, family physicians, pathologists and child protection agencies. On the one hand, they must report instances of suspected child abuse and protect other children in the family; and on the other, all agree that the knowledge in this area is incomplete and ambiguity exists in many cases.
Duhaime et al. (1992)4 wrote that "patients with intradural haemorrhage and no history of trauma must also have clinical and radiographic findings of blunt impact to the head, unexplained long-bone fractures or other soft tissue inflicted injury, in order to completely eliminate the possibility of spontaneous intracranial haemorrhage such as might rarely occur from a vascular malformation or a bleeding disorder".
While it is not disputed that some parents and care-givers may cause the above injuries by mistreating infants, one must take great care in interpreting similar pathological findings of injuries caused by other insults which have nothing to do with mechanical injuries and mistreatments of infants.
I shall never forget the father of a 10-month-old infant, who, after being acquitted on appeal of causing shaken baby syndrome, said words to the effect, "We still don't know what killed our baby". It did not occur to them and nobody told them that it was the vaccine that killed their baby.
So what else can cause brain swelling, intracranial bleeding, ocular retinal haemorrhages, and broken skull and other bones? Ever since the mass vaccination of infants began, reports of serious brain, cardiovascular, metabolic and other injuries started filling pages of medical journals.
Indeed, vaccines like the pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine are actually used to induce encephalo-myelitis (experimental allergic encephalomyelitis) in laboratory animals (Levine and Sowinski, 19735). This is characterised by brain swelling and haemorrhaging of an extent similar to that caused by mechanical injuries (Iwasa et al., 19856).
Munoz et al. (1981)7 studied biological activities of crystalline pertussigen-a toxin produced by Bordetella pertussis, the causative agent in pertussis and an active ingredient in all types of pertussis vaccines whether whole-cell or acellular-in a number of laboratory experiments with mice. They established that minute amounts of pertussigen induced hypersensitivity to histamine (still detected 84 days after administration), leucocytosis, production of insulin, increased production of IgE and G1 antibodies to hen egg albumin, susceptibility to anaphylactic shock and vascular permeability of striated muscle. A dose of 546 nanograms per mouse killed 50 per cent of mice. Typically, the deaths were delayed. When a dose of five micrograms of pertussigen was administered, most mice did not gain weight and died by day five; the last mouse died on day eight. A one-microgram dose of one preparation killed four out of five mice. They first gained weight from days two to five, but then remained at nearly constant weight until they died. Even the one that survived for 16 days (it was then killed) experienced crises (stopped putting on weight) on the days when the others died. Had that one lived longer, it might have died on day 24. This is another of the critical days-identified by Cotwatch research into babies' breathing-on which babies have flare-ups of stress-induced breathing, or die, after vaccination.
Interestingly, when laboratory animals develop symptoms of vaccine damage and then die, it is never considered coincidental; but when children develop the same symptoms and/or die after the administration of the same vaccines, it is considered coincidental or caused by their parents or other carers. When all this fails, then it is considered "mysterious".
Delayed reactions are the norm rather than the exception. This has been explained as a consequence of an immunological intravascular complexing of particulate antigen (whole-cell or acellular pertussis organisms) (Wilkins, 19888). However, vaccinators have great difficulty with this, and as a rule draw largely irrelevant timelines for accepting the causal link between administration of vaccines and onset of reactions-usually 24 hours or up to seven days. However, most reactions to vaccines are delayed, and most cases are then considered unrelated to vaccination.
One only has to peruse a product insert of hepatitis B vaccine to see that besides local reactions, a number of neurological signs may occur, such as paraesthesia and paralysis (including Guillain-Barre syndrome, optic neuritis and multiple sclerosis).
Devin et al. (1996)9 described retinal haemorrhages which are emphatically being considered the sure sign of child abuse, even though these can be and are caused by vaccines. Goetting and Sowa (1990)10 described retinal haemorrhage which occurred after cardiopulmonary resuscitation in children.
Bulging fontanelle due to brain swelling was described by Jacob and Mannino (1979)11 as a direct reaction to the DPT vaccine. They described a case of a seven-month-old baby who, nine hours after the third DPT vaccination, developed a bulging anterior fontanelle and became febrile and irritable.
Bruising and easy bleeding is one of the characteristic signs of the blood clotting disorder, thrombocytopenia-a recognised side-effect of many vaccines. Its first signs are easy bruising and bleeding and petechial (spotlike) rash. Thrombo-cytopenia may result in brain and other haemorrhages (Woerner et al., 198112).
The convulsions which follow one in 1,750 doses of the DPT vaccines (Cody et al., 198113) can result in unexplained falls in bigger children who can sit up or stand, which may cause linear cracks of the skull and other fractures. When one considers that babies are supposed to get a minimum of three doses of DPT and OPV (oral polio vaccine), then the risk of developing a convulsion is one in 580, and with five doses the risk rises to one in 350. This means that a great number of babies develop convulsions after vaccination between the ages of two to six months, at about 18 months, and at five to six years. The convulsions often occur when the parent or another carer is not looking, and the child, while standing or sitting on the floor, simply falls backwards or onto its arm.
All these signs can be misdiagnosed as a result of mechanical injuries, particularly so because vaccinators simply refuse to admit that vaccines cause serious injuries, or they only pay lip service to the damage caused by the pernicious routine of up to 18 vaccines with which babies are supposed to be injected within six months of birth.
The court system should therefore be more open to the documented viable and alternative explanations of the observed injuries, and be more wary of the obviously biased statements of the provaccination "experts", that nothing else but vigorous shaking can cause retinal haemorrhages-even though such statements only reflect their ignorance. Such "experts" then go home and continue advising parents to vaccinate, and thus, with impunity, they cause more and more cases of vaccine-injured babies and children. THE UK MEASLES EPIDEMIC THAT NEVER WAS
The term "Munchausen syndrome per proxy" has been used to identify individuals who kill or otherwise harm a child in order to attract attention to themselves. The term was used in many instances in the 1980s when earlier attempts were fashioned to explain some of the cases of sudden infant death.
According to Meadow (1995),14 "Munchausen syndrome per proxy" is flamboyant terminology originally used for journalistic reasons. It was a term commonly applied to adults who presented themselves with false illness stories, just like the fictional Baron von Munchausen who travelled on cannon balls. The term is now used to apply to parents of children who present with false illness stories fabricated by a parent or someone else in that position.
While the term may have some validity in describing this special form of child abuse in the documented cases of parents slowly poisoning their child or exposing it to unnecessary and often dangerous and invasive medical treatments, more recently it became a way for some doctors to camouflage the real observed side-effects of especially measles (M), measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) and measles-rubella (MR) vaccinations in the UK. Many thousands of British children (up to 15,000 in my considered opinion) developed signs of autism usually associated with bowel symptoms after being given the above vaccines in 1994.
The Bulletin of Medical Ethics published two articles, in 1994 and 1995, dealing with this problem. The October 1994 article ("Is your measles jab really necessary?") stated that during November 1994 the UK Government would be running a mass campaign of measles vaccination with the intention of reaching every child between the ages of five and sixteen.
It claimed that the purpose of this campaign was to prevent an epidemic that would otherwise occur in 1995, with up to 200,000 cases and up to 50 deaths. The article also showed that since 1990 there have been only 8,000 to 10,000 cases of measles each year in England and Wales, and that coincidentally there was an epidemic of only about 5,000 cases in Scotland in the winter of 1993-94. Between May and August 1994 the notification rate in England and Wales dropped sharply, so there was nothing that clearly suggested an imminent epidemic.
The nine-page article in the August 1995 issue of BME stated among other things that on 14 September 1992 the Department of Health (DoH) hastily withdrew two brands of MMR vaccines following a leak to the national press about the risk of children developing mumps meningitis after administration of these vaccines. Both brands contained the Urabe mumps vaccine strain which had been shown to cause mumps meningitis in one in 1,044 vaccinees (Yawata, 199415).
Based on the epidemiology of measles, there was never going to be a measles epidemic in 1995 and there was certainly no justification for concomitant rubella vaccination. The mass campaign was planned as an experimental alternative to a two-dose schedule of measles-mumps-rubella vaccination. The UK Government knowingly misled parents about the need for the campaign and about the relative risks of measles and measles vaccination. The DoH broke the European Union's law about contracts and tendering to ensure that specific pharmaceutical companies were awarded the contracts to provide the campaign vaccines. All this must have been extremely fortunate for the drug companies in question, since the supplies of measles and rubella vaccines-which they'd been left with in 1992 and for which there was virtually no demand-were soon to go out of date.
The vaccination campaign achieved very little. Indeed, in 1995 there were twice as many cases of serologically confirmed rubella in England and Wales as in the same period of 1994: 412 cases against 217. Six cases of rubella in pregnant women were reported. The data indicate that more measles cases were notified in the first quarter of 1995 (n=11) than in the first quarter of 1994 (n=9). Despite this, there were several claims from government doctors that measles transmission had stopped among school children. Higson (1995)16 wrote that two DoH officials tried to justify the success of the measles and rubella vaccination campaign by using data that cannot be used to give year-on-year comparison for measles infections. Indeed, he wrote that the data collected by the public health departments on the measles notifications show no indication of benefit from the highly expensive campaign. The British government spent some £20 million purchasing the near-expiry-date measles and rubella vaccines.
Some 1,500 parents are now participating in a class action over the damage (most often the bowel problems and autism) suffered by their children.
Wakefield et al. (1998)17 published a paper in the Lancet in which they reported on a consecutive series of children with chronic enterocolitis and regressive developmental disorder which occurred 1 to 14 days (median, 6.3 days) after M, MMR and MR vaccinations. They also quoted the "opioid excess" theory of autism, that autistic disorders result from the incomplete breakdown and excessive absorption of gut-derived peptides from foods, including barley, rye, oats and milk/dairy product casein, caused by vaccine injury to the bowel. These peptides may exert central-opioid effects, directly or through the formation of ligands with peptidase enzymes required for the breakdown of endogenous central-nervous-system opioids, leading to disruption of normal neuroregulation and brain development by endogenous encephalins and endorphins.
A number of British parents approached me last year and complained that their children had developed behavioural and bowel problems after vaccination (as above), and that instead of getting help from their doctors they were told that they just imagined the symptoms or caused them in order to attract attention to themselves. The term "Munchausen syndrome per proxy" was used. It caused a lot of hardship and marital problems and did nothing for the victims of vaccination. Their stories were horrifying.
EDUCATION ON VACCINE DANGERS
In summary, the trail of vaccine disasters is growing. Not only do vaccinations do nothing to improve the health of children and other recipients, they cause serious health problems and hardship for their families by victimising the victims of vaccines.
Parents of small children of vaccination age should use their own judgement and should educate themselves about the real dangers of this unscientific, useless, harmful and invasive medical procedure. No matter how much vaccines are pushed, vaccination is not compulsory in Australia (though the Liberal Federal Minister for Health has announced his plan to make it so in the near future-which, to me, sounded more like a threat at the time), and parents do not have to vaccinate their children. Those parents who think they are safe when they follow the official propaganda may be in for a rude awakening: they may be accused of causing the harm which resulted from vaccination.
I also urge medical practitioners to use their own judgement and observations and study the trail of disaster created by vaccination. They should listen when their patients and especially the parents of small children report side effects of vaccinations.
The inability to listen and observe the truth has created a breed of medical practitioners who inflict illness rather than healing, who become accusers rather than helpers, and who are ultimately just covering up-whether consciously or unknowingly, but with frighteningly increasing frequency-for the disasters created by their useless and deadly concoctions and sanctimonious ministrations. Maybe the term "Munchausen boomerang" should be introduced to describe those members of the medical profession who victimise the victims of their own harmful interventions (vaccines in particular).
I would like to remind those who may still think the risks of vaccine injury are outweighed by the benefits from vaccines, that infectious diseases are beneficial for children by priming and maturing their immune system. These diseases also represent developmental milestones. Having measles not only results in a lifelong specific immunity to measles, but also a non-specific immunity to a host of other, more serious conditions: degenerative diseases of bone and cartilage, certain tumours, skin diseases and immunoreactive diseases (Ronne, 198518). Having mumps has been found to protect against ovarian cancer (West, 196619). So there is no need to try to prevent children from getting infectious diseases.
Moreover, according to orthodox immunological research, vaccines do not immunise, they sensitise; they make the recipients more susceptible to diseases (Craighead, 197520). It is the vaccinated children who suffer chronic ill health (asthma and constant ear infections being two of many vaccine side effects); who develop side effects to diseases like pneumonia or atypical measles (which carries a 12 to 15 per cent mortality risk); or who may have difficulty going through even such innocuous diseases as chicken pox because their immune system has been suppressed by vaccines.
In my closing remark, I urge parents to ask themselves a few questions. Have you noticed how much the vaccines are pushed by threats, coercion, victimisation and monetary punitive measures, with parents then being accused of causing what are clearly side effects of the vaccines? Would you succumb to the same type of pressure if any other product were pushed with the same vengeance? Wouldn't you be suspicious and ask what's wrong with the product if it has to be forced upon consumers? Why do so many informed parents, as well as many informed medical doctors, now refuse vaccination? Shouldn't you be suspicious of a medical system which forces itself upon you, which won't accept responsibility for vaccine injuries and unlawfully tries to take away your constitutional, democratic and legal right to have control over your own and your children's health without being hassled and victimised? Endnotes:
1. Caffey, J. (1972), "On the theory and practice of shaking infants", Am. J. Dis. Child 124, August 1972.
2. Caffey, J. (1974), "The whiplash shaken infant syndrome: manual shaking by the extremities with whiplash-induced intracranial and intraocular bleeding, linked with residual permanent brain damage and mental retardation", Pediatrics 54(4):396-403.
3. Reece, R. M. (1993), "Fatal child abuse and sudden infant death syndrome", Pediatrics 91:423-429.
4. Duhaime, A. C., Alario, A. J., Lewander, W. J. et al. (1992), "Head injury in very young children mechanisms, injury types and opthalmologic findings in 100 hospitalized patients younger than two years of age", Pediatrics 90(2):179-185.
5. Levine, S. and Sowinski, R. (1973), "Hyperacute allergic encephalomyelitis", Am. J. Pathol. 73:247-260.
6. Iwasa, A., Ishida, S., Akama, K. (1985), "Swelling of the brain caused by pertussis vaccine: its quantitative determination and the responsible factors in the vaccine", Japan J. Med. Sci. Biol. 38:53-65.
7. Munoz, J. J., Aral, H., Bergman, R. K. and Sadowski, P. (1981), "Biological activities of crystalline pertussigen from Bordetella pertussis", Infection and Immunity, September 1981, pp. 820-826.
8. Wilkins, J. (1988), "What is 'significant' and DTP reactions" (letter), Pediatrics 81(6):912-913.
9. Devin, F., Roques, G., Disdier, P., Rodor, F. and Weiller, P. J. (1996), "Occlusion of central retinal vein after hepatitis B vaccination", Lancet 347:1626, 8 June 1996.
10. Goetting, M. G. and Sowa, B. (1990), "Retinal haemorrhage after cardiopulmonary resuscitation in children: an etiologic evaluation", Pediatrics 85(4):585-588.
11. Jacob, J. and Mannino, F. (1979), "Increased intracranial pressure after diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis immunization", Am. J. Dis. Child 133:217-218.
12. Woerner, S. J., Abildgaard, C. F. and French, B. N. (1981), "Intracranial haemorrhage in children with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura", Pediatrics 67(4):453-460.
13. Cody, C. L., Baraff, L. J., Cherry, J. D., Marcy, S. C. and Manclark (1981), "Nature and rates of adverse reactions associated with DTP and DT immunizations in infants and children", Pediatrics 68(5):650-660.
14. Meadow, R. (1995), "What is and what is not 'Munchausen syndrome per proxy'?", Arch. Dis. Child 72:534-538.
15. Yawata, Makoto (1994), "Japan's troubles with measles-mumps-rubella vaccine", Lancet 343:105-106, 8 January 1994.
16. Higson, N. (1995), "Evaluating the measles immunisation campaign", British Medical Journal 311:62.
17. Wakefield, A. J., Murch, S. H., Anthony, A., Linnell, J. et al. (1998), "Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis and pervasive developmental disorder in children", Lancet 351:637-641, 28 February 1998.
18. Ronne, T. (1985), "Measles virus infection without rash in childhood is related to disease in adult life", Lancet, 5 January 1985, pp. 1-5.
19. West, R. O. (1966), "Epidemiologic studies of malignancies of the ovaries", Cancer, July 1966, pp. 1001-07.
20. Craighead, J. E. (1975), "Report of a workshop: disease accentuation after immunisation with inactivated microbial vaccines", J. Infect. Dis. 1312(6):749-754. About the Author:
Viera Scheibner, PhD, is a retired principal research scientist with a doctorate in natural sciences. During her distinguished career she published three books and some 90 scientific papers in refereed scientific journals.
Since the mid-1980s when she helped develop the Cotwatch breathing monitor for babies at risk of cot death (sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS), she has done extensive research into vaccines and vaccinations and in 1993 published her book, Vaccination: The Medical Assault on the Immune System.
Dr Scheibner is often asked by lawyers to provide expert reports for vaccine-damage court cases, and she regularly conducts lectures. Her previous articles for NEXUS covered the SIDS/vaccines link (2/05) and the brain-eating bugs/vaccines connection (3/03).
Quintal - 29 Oct 2004 13:04 GMT http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/shakenbaby2.html
Shaken Baby Syndrome or Adverse Vaccine Reaction? Many parents have been charged with murder for allegedly shaking their babies to death, but medical evidence suggests that vaccinations are to blame in a large number of these cases.
Extracted from Nexus Magazine, Volume 7, Number 6 (October-November 2000) or November-December 2000 in the USA only. PO Box 30, Mapleton Qld 4560 Australia.(snip) Telephone: +61 (0)7 5442 9280; Fax: +61 (0)7 5442 9381 From our web page at: www.nexusmagazine.com
© by Maureen Hickman © 2000 PO Box 274 Ettalong Beach, NSW 2257 Australia (snip)
Throughout history, mankind has been plagued by infectious diseases. With the advent of modern biochemical antibiotics, many of these To loving, caring parents, the act of child abuse is abhorrent. However, it must be recognised that child abuse has occurred in the past and inevitably will occur in the future. Medical professionals have the unenviable task of establishing, by applying sound medical practice and scientific evidence, if child abuse has in fact occurred.
Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) was described in medical literature in the early 1970s1 but was recognised as a form of severe child abuse as far back as 1860.2 It is a collective term for internal head injuries which a baby or young child may sustain from: (a) being violently shaken (child abuse); (b) a combination of medical problems exacerbated by a serious vaccine adverse event; (c) a lone serious vaccine adverse event.
According to New Scientist,3 researchers may be on the way to identifying a biochemical signature that can help distinguish between brain injuries caused by accidents and those resulting from violent abuse. Whilst this research may identify SBS, it may not identify underlying medical problems which have been exacerbated by a serious vaccine adverse event or a lone serious vaccine adverse event. Unless sound scientific evidence is initiated swiftly to diagnose the difference, parents could find themselves in the position of a father in Sydney, Australia, who in 1995 was charged with the murder of his child. THE TRAGIC DEATH OF RIKKI LEE WALTERS Scott Warren Walters was charged with the murder of his four-month-old baby daughter, Rikki Lee Walters, by allegedly shaking the baby to death on 22 April 1995. Rikki Lee was born on 23 January 1995 at 41 weeks' gestation. The apgar scores (the scale, from 1 to 10, upon which a baby's physical health is judged) were 8 at one minute and improved to 9 at five minutes. She was vaccinated on 19 April 1995, 72 hours prior to her death. Vaccines given were triple antigen (diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis), Hibtiter (Haemophilus influenzae), hepatitis B and polio syrup.
The transcript of an electronically recorded interview between the police and Scott Warren Walters is significant: Q: Did she have any medical problems which you were aware of any time in between those two visits to the doctors? A: Oh, we were worried about her chest, 'cause she was, um, breathing a bit heavy and like, we took, the doctor said she's just got a cold. Q: When did the doctor say that? A: When we took her to, um, get her needles and that, she was... Q: So, you were worried about her chest when you took her to the doctors. A: Yeah, we were; her chest was, since she was born, like she had a...she caught a cold, and, you know, through the month...through, like, the second month, she's caught a cold and it hasn't gone away; it was just...her breathing was just heavy.
The transcript of the police interview with the mother is also significant: Q: Did Rikki Lee receive any vaccination? A: Yeah; the other day it was her two-month-old needles, 'cause she had a cold when they were due; ones for polio, hepatitis B, measles and mumps, all that type of thing. Q: Did Rikki Lee have diarrhoea? A: No. Q: Did she have vomiting? A: She's always been a vomity baby after she is fed, but no more than usual. Q: Did she have cold symptoms? A: She's had a snuffly chest and nose, she had a really bad reaction to the needles. She only had them on Wednesday; she had a runny nose since this. [Author's emphasis in italics.]
The fact that Rikki Lee had a bad reaction to vaccination was also noted by the police in the "Report of Death to the Coroner", dated 23 April 1995: "The deceased received two-monthly injections on Wednesday 19.4.95 on her three-monthly period because she had been sick. The deceased then suffered a bad reaction to the injections; however, the mother did not return her to the doctor. [Signed by constable.]"
It is noted that the medical practitioner said the following in a statement to police: "I cannot recall this consultation; however, it [is] my usual practice to observe the child and ask general questions as to the child's health. If the child had been obviously unwell with fever, the vaccination would not have been ordered. Further, the child did not appear to have any physical injuries or [to be] suffering from neglect; and if the child had been, I am aware of the guidelines in relation to [my] contacting the Department of Community Services. The child received the vaccinations from nursing staff, as this is usually the normal practice at the centre." [Author's emphasis in italics.]
We know that the child was ill because both parents alluded to this fact when giving police statements. Did the medical practitioner give adequate information to the parents on the risks and benefits of vaccination so an informed decision could be made? The father alleged that the medical practitioner, in a consultation lasting three to four minutes, did not take any notes of the consultation, did not examine the child for contraindications to the administration of a vaccine, did not question the parents on the health of the child, and did not explain the risks and benefits of vaccination.
If the medical practitioner did not recall the consultation, how could he remember whether there were any physical injuries or whether the child was suffering from neglect? Remember, the doctor took no notes according to the parents. The doctor made the statement: "If the child had been obviously unwell with fever, the vaccination would not have been ordered." We know, however, that the doctor admitted only to observing the child, so how could he make a diagnosis of whether the child had any contraindications for the administration of the six vaccines?
The Australian Immunisation Procedures Handbook4 is distributed by the National Health and Medical Research Council to give medical practitioners guidance about vaccination and to encourage them to maintain the highest standards in the provision of vaccination services. The 5th edition of this handbook, distributed in October 1994, is very clear on the issue of consent and advises practitioners that informed consent must be obtained from the person being vaccinated or, in the case of a child, the child's parent or guardian. The handbook advises that consent should be obtained prior to each vaccination, after the recipient's fitness and suitability have been established, and that the person being vaccinated or the parent/guardian should be informed of all possible side effects.
It does appear that the medical practitioner in this instance was clearly negligent because he did not follow government guidelines in the provision of vaccination services. He did not establish Rikki Lee's fitness for vaccination correctly, as she was subsequently found to have been suffering from viral pneumonia. Seventy-two hours later, disastrous results emerged from his carelessness.
Following this vaccination, Rikki Lee slept for 10-11 hours on Friday night, 21 April 1995, the night before her death. Was this "excessive somnolence"? This is defined by Peter O. Behan, Professor of Neurology at Southern General Hospital, Glasgow, as "a state of drowsiness" and is an adverse reaction to vaccination.6 He wrote: "Albeit, this may be difficult to quantitate but, normally, mothers will be aware that the child will be difficult to arouse, will not take its food, and most mothers will note that the child is sleeping excessively."
According to the transcript from an additional police interview, Scott Warren Walters was asked about feeding details on the day Rikki Lee died: A: ...she only, she didn't have it; she wouldn't have been two minutes; she was on the bottle and she just... Q: About two minutes on the bottle? A: Yeah. Q: And what, she wasn't interested in the food? A: No, no.
The father admitted that Rikki Lee, following the administration of the vaccines, had shown signs of excessive drowsiness, projectile vomiting and diarrhoea, had not been taking the full amount of her formula and was on continual doses of Panadol every six hours. DOCTORS CALLED BY CROWN LEGAL TEAM In the case of Regina v Scott Warren Walters,5 heard by Acting Judge Black in the NSW Supreme Court in April 1998, the Crown called three expert witnesses: a forensic pathologist, a paediatrician and a neuropathology professor. The forensic pathologist reported: "There were no fractures of the skull; subdural haemorrhage was present diffusely across the superior surface of the right cerebral hemisphere. There was no evidence of bruising of the neck. There were no fractures of the rib cage. No digested food was seen in the intestine and there was minimal faecal material within the colon. An X-ray skeletal survey was performed, and no evidence of old or recent trauma or other bony disease was seen."
Acting Judge Black commented on the forensic pathologist's testimony in his Judgment: "Examination of the fixed eyes noted haemorrhages around both sides of the optic nerve and diffuse retinal haemorrhages... There was laryngopharyngitis and moderate microvesicular steatosis present in the liver... Cytomegalovirus was isolated from a nasal swab. She said that cytomegalovirus was a viral pneumonia which she would not expect to cause death but would expect to cause something like a bad cold, maybe bronchitis... She was not able to say how long Ricki Lee had been suffering from viral pneumonia. "The microscopic examination of the subdural haemorrhage told her that the haemorrhage occurred within around 12 hours prior to Ricki Lee's death." The forensic pathologist determined that the direct cause of death was subdural haemorrhage occurring up to approximately 12 hours prior to death. No antecedent causes or other significant conditions that may have contributed to the death were listed. In cross-examination, the following questions and answers were put and given: Q: And first of all, it is the case, is it not, that there is some controversy within the medical profession about this whole issue of shaken baby syndrome? A: Yes. Q: There are those who would debunk the whole idea completely? A: There are certain people that say that shaking alone is insufficient to cause injuries, that there must be impact as well; and there are others that say that the shaking is sufficient. The paediatrician, Chairman of the Child at Risk Committee at Westmead Hospital, Sydney, reported: "The clinical and pathological findings are almost certainly the result of a violent shaking injury to the child in the short time prior to her death." Slightly later in his report, he said this: "The only other possible explanation for a spontaneous haemorrhage into the brain would be some form of haemorrhagic disease such as vitamin K deficiency in the neonatal period. I understand that she did receive her vitamin K injection and this would virtually rule out this possibility."
In his Judgment, Acting Judge Black commented on the paediatrician's findings: "In the course of his evidence, the paediatrician had said that he felt strongly about his position and I asked him to clarify what he meant by that. He said it was not because he was trying to make out that he was zealous about the matter; it was just that because of the range of injuries within the brain, he felt it was consistent with violent shaking, way out ahead of any other possibility; in terms of percentages, something like 99 per cent, something like that. "He was not aware that the child had been vaccinated about three days before her death. "He says that the presence of cytomegalovirus would not be a contraindication for immunising the child. He said the current advice is that immunisation should be done unless there is a particularly serious illness. "In relation to the microvesicular steatosis found by the forensic pathologist, he [paediatrician] did not refer to it in his report. He said in relation to it: 'It is not something I think I could comment on, but I think I was concentrating largely on the injuries that were documented but it is obviously important in the context.' 'Q: When you say you cannot comment on it, are you saying you cannot comment on microvesicular steatosis?' 'A: Yes, I would have to be told what that is. I don't know what that is.' "I am surprised [said Judge Black], in view of those answers, that the paediatrician felt able to be as positive in his conclusions as he was." A neuropathology professor also gave evidence for the Crown. Commenting on his testimony, Acting Judge Black wrote in his Judgment: "Injuries are consistent with the child having been shaken. He was asked, 'Would it be possible for a child to have received these injuries and to appear normal to a number of adults over a period of hours?' A: 'Yes.' When asked to put a time frame on this, he said, 'The injuries could have happened twenty-four to forty-eight hours prior to the arrival of the ambulance on the Saturday night'. He was unaware that the child had been vaccinated three days prior to the death. He noted the presence of cytomegalovirus but that did not cause him any concern, nor did he see any relationship between that and the vaccination. "He did not consider whether scurvy was a problem and said, 'Scurvy is a diagnosis that...again I am no [more] expert on the clinical aspects of vitamin deficiencies than I am on the vitamin aspects of brain problems, but scurvy does not normally cause any brain pathology'." It was clear from the medical evidence tendered that the subdural haemorrhage was the cause of death and was probably less than 24 hours old. The retinal haemorrhage would have occurred near the time of death and could have been caused by resuscitation. In other words, there were two instances of haemorrhage allegedly caused by the baby being shaken. DOCTORS CALLED BY DEFENCE LEGAL TEAM Two medical practitioners were called on behalf of the defence in the case of Regina v Scott Warren Walters. Dr Mark Donohoe, MB, BS, gave the following testimony:7 "The contributing and unusual factors in this case do make it difficult to attribute the intracranial bleeding to a single cause. The range of contributing and potentially causative factors include: hepatic mitochondrial abnormality (as evidenced by the microvesicular steatosis of the liver); antibiotic use in the neonatal period; cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection causing pneumonia; poor feeding and fluid intake causing a depletion in glutathione; multiple antigen vaccination administered while she was suffering a significant viral infection; adverse reaction to the vaccination; the use of paracetamol to manage her high temperature; nutritional deficiencies, including vitamins K and C."
This is an extract from Acting Judge Black's Judgment concerning Dr Donohoe's testimony: "In summary, his [Dr Donohoe's] report focuses on the moderate microvesicular steatosis present in the liver, found by the forensic pathologist. He says this condition arises from an inherited or acquired disorder of hepatic mitochondrial function. This was either inherited by Rikki Lee from her mother or caused by a toxic drug reaction. This type of hepatic damage would be expected to cause coagulation and bleeding disorders. In his view, the administration of an antibiotic when Rikki Lee was eleven days old, the presence of the cytomegalovirus infection, the administration of the vaccines, the administration of Panadol and possible vitamin deficiencies all combined to the possible sudden onset of spontaneous bruising and bleeding in a previously apparently healthy child. "He disagreed with the forensic pathologist's evidence that the steatosis of the liver was consistent with viral infection from the cytomegalovirus. He said the literature and research in the last five years had been fairly definitive that microvesicular steatosis is a mitochondrial disorder. "I [Judge Black] have considered the forensic pathologist's evidence about this carefully, and on this issue I am not satisfied that Dr Donohoe is wrong." Dr Archie Kalokerinos, MB, BS, well-known (retired) general practitioner and author of the book Every Second Child,8 also gave evidence for the defence. This is an extract from his testimony: "A possible cause of Rikki Lee's death was scurvy haemorrhage precipitated by pertussis vaccine. "The precipitating factor giving rise to scurvy is the endotoxin contained in pertussis vaccine, and the amount of endotoxin varies tremendously from one batch to another. In addition, endotoxin is more likely to be stimulated in production because bottle-fed babies do not have normal bowel flora. Also, the administration of antibiotics can stimulate the production of excessive amounts of endotoxin. Vitamin C neutralises the effects of endotoxin; however, infants exposed to endotoxin can develop a sensitivity which can precipitate extremely acute and even fatal symptoms occurring without warning. "The presence of a viral infection means more utilisation of vitamin C and probably causes the production of endotoxin in the gut. All the factors necessary for the production of scurvy haemorrhages are present in this case."
Regarding Dr Kalokerinos and his evidence, the Acting Judge noted: "He said from his own experience and from the research he had done, haemorrhages can occur in scurvy. The haemorrhages noted by the forensic pathologist could all have been caused by scurvy. The vitamin deficiencies and problems arising therefrom are far more common amongst Aboriginal and part-Aboriginal children than amongst Caucasian people. (It is noted here that the accused's evidence was that he was Aboriginal.) He says, in the present case, the vitamin C deficiency was a very likely possibility, 'much more likely than any other possibility'. He disagreed with the professor's evidence that scurvy did not normally cause any brain pathology. "It will be remembered that the professor had disclaimed any expertise in vitamin deficiency. Further, the professor had not said that scurvy could not cause any brain pathology; the words he used were 'does not normally cause'. Accordingly, I am not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that scurvy cannot cause brain pathology."
Acting Judge Black, in the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Criminal Division, in handing down Judgment on 24 April 1998, said: "In relation to those two doctors [i.e., doctors for the defence], I had the opportunity of seeing them both give their evidence and be carefully and comprehensively cross-examined in the witness box. I have also paid attention to the written submissions provided to me by the respective counsel. I did not form the view that either of those doctors was putting forward a fanciful, untenable proposition. Perhaps, putting the burden the correct way, I am not satisfied that their evidence should be rejected as unreliable, nor am I satisfied that their propositions are unreasonable. "...Suffice it then to say, in this case, having regard to all the evidence before me including, in particular, that given by witnesses whom I have seen, my verdict is that the accused is not guilty." [Author's emphasis in italics.] An innocent man would have been jailed in this matter if the Judge had not found that the medical practitioners for the defence were presenting reasonable propositions for alternative medical reasons, including a vaccine adverse event, rather than SBS for the death of the baby. Other accused parents have not been so fortunate. COMPARISON WITH SBS/VACCINE CASES IN UK & USA In the United States, a father has been jailed for life after a jury found him guilty of causing SBS. Baby A.9 was born in September 1997 and vaccinated eight weeks later with diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (DTP), hepatitis B, polio syrup and Hib (Haemophilus influenzae)--exactly the same vaccines that were administered to baby Rikki Lee. It is interesting to note that Baby A. had advanced bilateral pneumonia, whilst Rikki Lee was diagnosed as having viral pneumonia. Both mothers noted that their babies had chest congestion from birth to death and had a falling-off of feeding patterns and increased lethargy following the administration of vaccines. Clearly, the medical condition of both babies following birth should have precluded them from undergoing any vaccination, and especially not six vaccines at the one time. It is obvious that the babies in the two cases mentioned had underlying medical problems that were exacerbated by the administration of multiple vaccines and that a vaccine adverse event contributed to each death. The post-mortem findings on Rikki Lee found subdural haemorrhage of the right cerebral hemisphere and retinal haemorrhages were noted. In the case of Baby A., the findings found subdural haemorrhages of the right and left cerebral hemispheres as well as retinal bleeding. It is also interesting to note that both mothers had urinary tract infections during pregnancy and were treated with antibiotics. The father of Baby A. is fighting for his life and is presently seeking sufficient worldwide medical expertise to file an appeal. Many medical professionals around the world have responded to his request for support, including Dr Archie Kalokerinos who gave evidence in the Walters trial. Another tragic case in the United States is that of a mother who has been jailed for life for allegedly shaking her quadruplets. The naturally conceived quadruplets were born two months prematurely, weighing around three pounds each. When the babies were three weeks old, they were given hepatitis B vaccine--following which, all four babies became ill and required hospitalisation. Two babies ultimately required insertion of shunts in their brains to release blood and fluid as a result of subdural haemorrhages. Immediately the babies were hospitalised, the medical professionals made a diagnosis of SBS. These four babies are now scheduled for adoption and the maternal grandmother has been dismissed by state authorities as a possible candidate. In the United Kingdom, a 35-year-old lawyer was recently convicted of the double murder of her baby sons. Christopher died in 1996 and Harry in 1998. Sally Clark was accused of shaking Harry to death. Because of that accusation, it was alleged that it was too much of a coincidence to believe that Christopher did not die in 1996 in exactly the same way, even though death at the time was attributed to "natural causes". Harry was diagnosed with retinal haemorrhage; however, one medical expert prior to the trial had doubts about this diagnosis, as he claimed he had been looking at the wrong slides. This disclosure weakened other medical experts' evidence of SBS, but it was not sufficient to sway the jury from a verdict of guilty. Christopher was vaccinated 23 days before his death, and Harry on the day he died; so it is feasible that both of these babies could have died from a severe vaccine adverse event.10 There was a divergence of medical opinion at the trial of Sally Clark as well as at the trial of the father of Baby A. The question must be asked whether juries are capable of understanding complex, conflicting medical evidence empowering them to judge a person's guilt or innocence in such cases. It is interesting to note that in the Australian case of Walters, a Judge alone found the defendant not guilty. ACCURATE CASE ASSESSMENT It should be noted that SBS may not always result in the death of a baby. In New South Wales recently, parents of a child suffering a serious vaccine adverse event were suspected of SBS. The baby has been removed from the care of the parents and placed with a Department of Community Services (DOCS) foster parent. The law in New South Wales11 gives representatives of DOCS the right to attend on the residential address of any parent suspected of abusing children. A notice12 is served on them to present their child forthwith to a nominated medical practitioner at a hospital or some other place so specified so a medical examination of the child can take place. Under the law, the Director-General of the Department of Community Services may keep the child for "such period of time as is reasonably necessary for the child to be examined". A court of law will ultimately decide the fate of the baby, i.e., whether the baby would be returned to the care of the parents or whether it would be fostered out to family or other carers. Following a hearing, it is possible that the court could refer the matter to the police. The situation may then arise where a person is charged with a criminal offence (SBS), even though the injuries to the baby may well have been reported to the appropriate authorities by that person as a serious vaccine adverse event. It is clear that the diagnosis of SBS requires meticulous medical investigation. This investigation will be made much more difficult in the future with the recent endorsement by governments around the world of hepatitis B vaccination of all newborns. As more vaccines are released onto the market, the number of serious vaccine adverse events--including death--will increase in our children and at a younger age. The problem is the failure of medical professionals to recognise that vaccine adverse events do occur and that they are guilty of labelling them "coincidental" or "by chance".13 In Australia, six deaths14 have been reported from vaccines in the 27-month period from 6 June 1997 to 2 September 1999. Because of the under-reporting and under-recognition of such events, it is likely that death and other serious injuries occur in much higher numbers than the public has been led to believe. In other words, it is more politically correct to label the death or injury of a baby as SBS than to investigate the safety and effectiveness of vaccines which are considered by governments and the majority of the medical profession as the only panacea for the treatment of infectious diseases.
Clinical trials prior to licensure of vaccines are notoriously small, and this inhibits researchers' ability to establish accurately the cause and effect relationship between vaccines and serious adverse events. Vaccine trials are usually funded by vaccine manufacturers themselves and are unlikely to quantify accurately the true "risks vs benefits" ratio, lest it reflect on sales and marketing strategies. What is seriously lacking is independent scientific research with large numbers of trial participants, where one half is given the vaccine and the other half is given a placebo. Dr Mark Donohoe, the Sydney medical practitioner who gave evidence for the defence in the Walters trial, was very explicit in his SBS research when he said:15 "There exist major data gaps in the medical literature regarding SBS. These are summarised as: Lack of clear definition of cases. There is an urgent need for standard criteria, to identify certain cases for the purpose of homogeneity in trials and identification of the unique features of SBS as opposed to other abuse, other medical conditions and normals. Lack of useful and specific laboratory or other markers proven to identify SBS. Poor definition and quantification of the social and family risk factors to provide guidance on likelihood of abuse for a given set of circumstances. There is a strong need for a checklist or other diagnostic or management tool to assess cases and to quantify index of suspicion of shaking."
A paper in the British Medical Journal concluded:16 "Subdural haemorrhage is common in infancy and carries a poor prognosis; three quarters of such infants die or have profound disability. Most cases are due to child abuse, but in a few the cause is unknown." [Author's emphasis added.]
The authors of the paper believe that the clinical investigation of such children should include: a full, multidisciplinary, social assessment; an ophthalmic examination; a skeletal survey supplemented with a bone scan or a skeletal survey, repeated at around 10 days; a coagulation screen; a computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging.
However, according to Dr Mark Donohoe: "There is an urgent need for properly controlled, prospective trials into SBS, using a variety of controls. Until such studies are complete, published and replicated, the current opinion on the link between SDH/RH and SBS cannot be sustained." RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE LEGAL AND MEDICAL PROFESSIONS The correct diagnosis of Shaken Baby Syndrome is a problem for those being accused of this syndrome around the world. The cases mentioned are only a small number that have occurred over the past few years. It is hard to imagine the distress, confusion and despair suffered by the accused and their families, especially those who have been jailed for life for a crime they claim they did not commit. Juries and lawyers rely heavily on what medical experts tell them. If medical experts are guilty of grossly misleading a court of law by providing skewed evidence from inadequate medical research on SBS, then innocent individuals are suffering unnecessarily. Let us hope that the SBS medical experts comprehend that they are not infallible and realise the untold human tragedy that can occur if they are wrong. Glossary The key terms in the identification of SBS are alleged to be:17 Cerebral oedema: fluid collecting in the brain, causing tissue to swell. Haematoma: a localised accumulation of blood in tissues as a result of haemorrhaging. Haemorrhage: a condition of bleeding, usually severe. Retinal haemorrhage (RH): bleeding of the retina, a key structure in vision located at the back of the eye. Subdural Haematoma (SDH): a localised accumulation of blood, sometimes mixed with spinal fluid, in the space of the brain beneath the membrane covering called the dura matter. Endnotes:
1. Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine (Olendorf, Jeryan, Boyden, editors), Gale Research, Detroit, MI, vol. 4, 1999, p. 2604. 2. "Abuse and Neglect of Children", Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics (Behrman, Kliegman, Jenson, eds), W.B. Saunders Co., Philadelphia, PA, 2000, 16th edition, chapter 35, p. 113. 3. Baker, Mitzi, "That was no accident: Biochemical markers could one day help identify battered children", New Scientist, 28 November 1998, p. 21. 4. The Australian Immunisation Procedures Handbook, National Health and Medical Research Council, 5th edition, October 1994 and revised 5th edition, 1995. 5. Regina v Scott Warren Walters, Supreme Court of New South Wales, Criminal Division, No. 70031 of 1998. 6. Behan, Peter O., MD, FACP, FRCP (Professor of Neurology, Glasgow University, Scotland), "Report on the Neurological Complications of Pertussis Vaccination in Children", August 1995; and letter from Professor Behan to Sydney solicitors, dated 13 October 1993, regarding a vaccine damage claim. 7. Dr Mark Donohoe's research on Shaken Baby Syndrome, prepared for the case of Regina v Scott Warren Walters, heard in Sydney, Australia, in 1998. 8. Kalokerinos, Archie, MD, Every Second Child, Pivot/Health Books/Keats Publishing, CT, USA, 1981 (first published by Thomas Nelson Australia Ltd, 1974), ISBN 0-87983-250-9. 9. Information provided to the writer by the father of Baby A. in written correspondence and history, taken by Harold E. Buttram, MD, and F. Edward Yazbak, MD, of the Woodlands Healing Research Center, Quakertown, PA, USA, dated 25 May 2000. 10. Driscoll, Margarette, "Shadow of Doubt", Sunday Times News Review, UK, 28 November 1999. The article reports that Christopher was vaccinated on the day before his death; but Dr Viera Scheibner has learned that the boy was vaccinated 23 days before he died--one of the critical days, according to her studies linking SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) with vaccinations. 11. New South Wales Children (Care and Protection) Act 1987, No. 54. 12. ibid., section 23, pp. 30-31. 13. The Australian Immunisation Procedures Handbook, 7th edition, March 2000, pp. 22, 259; also, Drs Gordon Ada and David Isaacs, Vaccination: The Facts, The Fears, The Future, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2000, pp. 91, 94, ISBN 1-86508-223-6. 14. Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, Communicable Diseases Intelligence Bulletins: 21(20):313, 2 October 1997; 21(23):364, 25 December 1997; 22(7):146, 9 July 1998; 22(10):234, 1 October 1998; 23(1):34, 21 January 1999; 23(9):255, 2 September 1999. 15. Dr Mark Donohoe's research on Shaken Baby Syndrome, prepared for the case of Regina v Scott Warren Walters, ibid. 16. Jayawant, S., Rawlinson, A., Gibbon, F., Price, J., Schulte, J., Sharples, P., Sibert, J.R., Kemp, A.M., "Subdural haemorrhages in infants: population-based study", British Medical Journal 317:1558-1561, 5 December 1998. 17. Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, op. cit. About the Author:
Maureen Hickman, JP, has been a para-legal in Sydney law firms for over 25 years and currently works part-time at Carters Law Firm. She is the author of Vaccination: The Right Choice? (reviewed in NEXUS 7/04, June-July 2000). Editor's Note:
For additional background information, refer to "Shaken Baby Syndrome: The Vaccination Link" by Viera Scheibner, PhD, published in NEXUS 5/05, August-September 1998.
Quintal - 29 Oct 2004 15:07 GMT a skeptic point of view about viera scheibner:
http://www.geocities.com/issues_in_immunization/fearmongers/viera_scheibner.htm
FEAR MONGERING: spreading discreditable, misrepresentative information designed to induce fear and apprehension.
Viera Scheibner In 1993 Ms. Scheibner published a book "100 Years of Orthodox Research Shows that vaccines Represent a Medical Assault on the Immune System." The most famous of her claims is that SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) supposedly disappeared in Japan following a change in the pertussis immunization schedule.
Ms. Scheibner's credentials are ambiguous. As Viera Scheibnerovà she was an assistant professor in the Dept. of Geology at Comenius University in Bratislava until 1969.
She then immigrated to Australia and was a member of the Geological Survey of New South Wales until her retirement in the mid 1980's.
A medline search of the indexed peer reviewed literature covering some 3,600 health-related journals reveals that Ms. Scheibner has never published a single study on human health.
While Ms. Scheibner apparently has training in paleontology, her training in the health sciences and her experience in human health research is NON-EXISTENT!
Ms. Scheibner claims to have researched "60,000 studies" (up from 30,000!). However, in Australia Ms.Scheibner was the 1997 recipient of the Bent Spoon Award for her role as the "perpetrator of the most preposterous piece of paranormal or pseudo-scientific piffle."
A further review of her book is also available.
Also, an examination of Ms. Scheibner's claims of a disappearance of SIDS in Japan following a change in the pertussis immunization schedule is shown to be completely erroneous.
Ms. Scheibner has also claimed that Japan discontinued measles and pertussis immuniztion. An examination of relevant current data reveals her claim to be erroneous. According to the World Health Organization Japan has high levels of pertussis immunization coverage(over 80%).
Ms. Scheibner's lack of training in the health sciences has led her into other blunders. One of many examples: at one point in her book she claims the cause of Legionnaire's Disease is the flu vaccine (disease is actually caused by the organism Legionella pneumophilia and related strains.)
Advocate147 - 29 Oct 2004 15:05 GMT Vera Scheibner,
Didn't read your entire post, but do not need to. My answer is quite independent of vaccination theory. And pretty certain. What with John Stroger hospital in Chicago, and Canada Health report of babies born to mothers on anti-depressants in the last months of pregnancy, having acute problems of respiratory and seizure problems and are hospitalized. John Stroger hospital has problems with newborns of mothers on drugs, (no doubt stimulant or recreational drugs) having rumination problems (vomiting). The babies are taken from the mothers and given to a surrogate caretaker not on drugs to thrive. I have a layman's theory on website http://ascc.healingwell.com/info/gailfaq.htm that describes what stimulants can do to people of all ages. There was a case here where a nurse was taking care of a 6mo. old, and the parents (physicians) worked a few days a week. The baby died in the nurse's care, and she was blamed for the death. The article describing the case, emphasized that the mother was taking an anti-depressant, and was not ashamed to admit it. They were devastated by the death, and the nurse got life. It was reduced to 50 years, when I read the article, I went to the lawyers office to tell him of my theory on stimulants, and he said he knew the nurse was not guilty as he would know the truth. Then who killed the baby. Clear in my mind, the stimulant works in a very harmful manner. and the harm continues by a mind/body connection literally, no matter the distance involved between baby and parent. The case was appealed and the nurse is now free. I do not know what the appeal was based on, but clearly her time in prison was a mistake. I can provide the nurse's name and lawyer's name if necessary. This will continue to happen and in more frequent fashion, if the damage of stimulants is not recognized and curbed. It is grievous to know this and not know what to do about it. It needs a study, the easiest being of pediatric children who have IBD or crohns, as it is usually their parent on an anti-depressant and the situation ceases if the parent ceases the drug. Also, Xanax, buspar, depakote, flexeril, natural herbs with natural stimulants, kava kava, st johns wort, SAM-e etc. etc. etc. can also cause the harmful syndrome. This is a cause for great concern, as it is a very strange and almost unbelievable theory, but any observer astute enough to pursue this, will find it to be true. If anyone knows of a an organization or pediatrician willing to initiate such a study, I can contribute some funds to the project. There is no other cause to the dire harm being done to so many in this manner. Have observed this for many years. Gail Michael
HCN - 29 Oct 2004 16:19 GMT > Vera Scheibner, > > Didn't read your entire post, but do not need to. My answer is quite > independent of vaccination theory. ... Then answer this: Is it okay to shake a baby?
Advocate147 - 30 Oct 2004 01:30 GMT HCN:
You wrote: "Then answer this: Is it okay to shake a baby>"
Of course not. What in my post implied that it would be okay. I think you did not understand my post. Sometimes, perhaps, I get tired and do not write in enough detail to make clear the concept. Shaken baby syndrome is never okay, but it is sometimes mistaken for the damage done by stimulant use (i.e. anti-depressant mostly) by the mother or caretaker. Stimulants have a mind/body connection that convey an impact of harm to the person the med user if thinking of. Therefore, that damage is mistaken for the baby having been abused. And the med taker is wrongly accused of shaking the baby when it was the stimulant at fault in the strange mind/body connection, literally. Don't know if you can understand this. It is an illogical, mysterious entity that reason cannot validate. Nevertheless, it is true. I have seen it for many years. The website again is http://ascc.healingwell.com/info/gailfaq.htm It needs to be researched to be accepted and the question is how does an ordinary person initiate one, when practically no one will believe it.
Gail Michael
Ed Mathes - 30 Oct 2004 01:59 GMT Convoluted logic?
> HCN: > [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > > Gail Michael HCN - 29 Oct 2004 16:21 GMT > francom.esoterisme,fr.bio.medecine,sci.med,fr.soc.complots,alt.conspiracy > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > Many infants who suffer the so-called 'shaken baby syndrome' may be > victims of undiagnosed vaccine damage. ...
Is it okay to shake a baby?
I'm asking because a baby is being buried today that was shaken to keep her quiet. Well, now she is quiet forever.
Jean Claude Calvez - 30 Oct 2004 09:58 GMT > francom.esoterisme,fr.bio.medecine,sci.med,fr.soc.complots,alt.conspiracy Je n'ai pas lu (trop long et en anglais). Mais, au vu des nombreux groupes dans lesquels vous avez post?, peut-on supposer qu'il est question d'?sot?ristes complotant en utilisant des m?thodes m?dicales ? :-)) Ou alors des m?decins qui complotent en utilisant des m?thodes ?sot?riques :-)) Ou encore...
> http://www.nexusmagazine.com/articles/shakenbaby1.html > [...] PS : ce commentaire est valable pour les autres messages que vous avez post?s avec la m?me liste de diffusion.
JCC
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