Researchers cast doubt on one of the main symptoms used to identify shaken baby syndrome, prompting doctors to seriously question the syndrome and how it is diagnosed. The syndrome results from violently shaking an infant and is recognized by bleeding around the brain and from the eye, along with brain damage. Concerns about the validity of the syndrome arose after researchers found little medical evidence to show that bleeding from the eye results only from physical abuse. They added that a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome should not be based on just one symptom. This points to a widespread issue as more and more infant deaths are being labeled as Shaken-Baby Syndrome, and there may be many cases where parents have been wrongly accused because reactions to childhood vaccines can produce similar symptoms.
Reuters March 26, 2004