This article highlights the unchecked power of child abuse pediatricians (CAPs), along with the sad reality that parents today need to have a lawyer on speed dial whenever they visit the emergency room with their child. Trusting the process because parents have nothing to hide is a recipe for family destruction. It is simply too easy to lose a child when a CAP alleges abuse because every step of the process is mobilized to work against the parents. CAPs not only “diagnose” abuse, but name the abuser, run the investigations, demand criminal prosecutions, and testify to hammer the nails into the coffin. Then they dictate the terms of parent-child separation and whether the child will ever return home. State investigators and prosecutors regularly abdicate because it’s all about the win. CAP’s standard protocol includes hiding behind the cloak of confidentiality and refusing to answer reporters’ questions. All doctors are not created equal. CAPs are generalists. When qualified experts—who have spent decades training in a specific area of medicine—find a medical explanation for the child’s condition, the case should never get off the ground. Yet, the presumption of innocence is rarely present in the “child protection” process, nor is common sense. Anyone who thinks this could never happen to them is mistaken. Only public exposure, pressure, and legal accountability will cause change. Grateful to this family and reporter for this story.
This story was published in the NYT Magazine and also by ProPublica. I’ve provided both links.
https://www.propublica.org/article/shaken-baby-syndrome-abusive-head-trauma-controversy
