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Dr. John Plunkett died this week. He spent nearly 20 years arguing in court against bad forensic science, for which he was maliciously prosecuted and received false ethics complaints. Through his efforts, 300 innocent people were exonerated. (This sentence from fark.com)
Like a lot of other doctors, child welfare advocates and forensic specialists, John Plunkett at first bought into the theory of Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS). It's a convenient diagnosis for prosecutors, in that it provides a cause of death (violent shaking), a culprit (whoever was last with the child before death) and even intent (prosecutors often argue that the violent, extended shaking establishes mens rea.) But in the late 1990s, Plunkett — a forensic pathologist in Minnesota — began to have doubts about the diagnosis. The same year his study was published, Plunkett testified in the trial of Lisa Stickney, a licensed day care worker in Oregon. Thanks in large part to Plunkett's testimony, Stickney was acquitted. District Attorney Michael Dugan responded with something unprecedented — it criminally charged an expert witness over testimony he had given in court. Today, the scientific consensus on SBS has since shifted significantly in Plunkett's direction.
[...] According to the National Registry of Exonerations, 16 SBS convictions have been overturned. Plunkett's obituary puts the figure at 300, and claims that he participated in 50 of those cases. I'm not sure of the source for that figure, and it's the first I've seen of it. But whatever the number, Plunkett deserves credit for being among the first to sound the alarm about wrongful SBS convictions. His study was the first step toward those exonerations.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Sulla on Wednesday April 11 2018, @11:58PM (3 children)
So I had twin boys a couple of years ago, one of them with colic and one of them without colic. Colic is pretty annoying to deal with, and I decided to look up any studies tying longterm life success/issues and colic as an infant.
https://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/news/20000313/colicky-babies-may-be-more-emotional-later#1 [webmd.com]
Anecdotally I can say that this appears to be true, at least comparing my twin boys. I wonder how much the child getting more attention paid to it during the colic phase and the immediate response of parents trying to make it quiet down has to do with the kid thinking it can get away with more later in life. Colic may train kids that outbursts get them the attention they want.
https://www.babble.com/parenting/the-unspoken-long-term-effect-of-colic-post-colic-stress-syndrome/ [babble.com]
Woman complaining about PTSD from having a kid with colic and how it kept her from having more kids. So a weak mother and a colicy kid might reduce number of potential offspring and be bad for the species.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0161475409002036 [sciencedirect.com]
Kind of unrelated but the report claims that kids with colic that are treated by a chiropractor suffer less longterm temperament issues. Sounds like a scam to get you into the bone doctor to me.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 3, Insightful) by frojack on Thursday April 12 2018, @12:17AM (1 child)
Sure all the kid need is a subluxation adjustment.
If you had a point in this post, you blew it all to hell quoting the chrio-quacks self-serving studies.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1) by Sulla on Thursday April 12 2018, @03:59AM
I found it funny as hell and wanted to include it
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 4, Interesting) by LoRdTAW on Thursday April 12 2018, @12:31AM
Interestingly enough, my mother told me I was colicky when I was a baby and simply took her doctors advice, leave him in his crib, alone and let him cry his head off until he falls asleep. And you know what, I turned out just fine as a person. I'm not happy, that's depression, ADD and whatever else is lurking, but I'm a good person who's never done any one undeserved harm and only looks to help others. I'm not spoiled, impatient, or a dick and I never take my bullshit out on others or stomp around like a child when I'm upset. I keep my chin up and get my shit done as best I can.