AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
One Label Hides Very Different Cases
- The shaken baby diagnosis groups a wide range of events, from accidental bumps to violent assaults, under one label.
- That label then functions as a shortcut that often leads directly to criminal prosecution.
Diagnosis Language Drives Legal Assumptions
- The term 'shaken' and later 'abusive head trauma' imply intent and convictability even when causation is uncertain.
- Medical language thus shaped legal presumptions about guilt before full evidence existed.
The Humble Origin Of The Diagnosis
- Norman Guthkelch collected 23 infant brain-injury cases and suggested shaking as a possible cause in 1971.
- He cautioned clinicians to inquire 'guardedly' whether the head could have been shaken.