When the Truth is Ignored … Families are Destroyed

Father Facing Jail Sentence May be Innocent

By TLB Staff Writer: Christina England

Over the years, more and more innocent parents have been blamed of child abuse, if their child is diagnosed with the “triad” of injuries associated with shaken baby syndrome (SBS). When a medical professional suspects that a baby has been violently shaken, they will examine the infant for the triad of injuries. These injuries include subdural haemorrhages (SDH; bleeds inside the brain), retinal haemorrhages (RH; bleeds behind the eyes) and cerebral edema (swelling or inflammation inside the brain).

However, many leading professionals have turned their back on the SBS diagnosis, rendering it as little more than junk science. Studies have proven that the violent shaking of a young child is not the only cause of the SBS triad. Scientists and medical professionals have since proven that these injuries can also occur after short fall injuries; illnesses, such as encephalitis and meningitis; birth trauma; vitamin deficiencies; and genetic conditions, such as brittle bone syndrome. See the British Medical Journal’s online guide Best Practice: Abusive Head Trauma in Infants for more information.

Despite the overwhelming evidence suggesting other possible causes for the SBS triad, many potentially innocent parents and caregivers have had their families torn apart as a result of what they believe to be false accusations.

This is the story of one of them.

Potentially Innocent Father Faces Lengthy Jail Sentence on Thursday

On Thursday, March 19, 2015, Michigan father Joshua Burns will be sentenced to 1-10 years in prison for allegedly shaking his daughter Naomi so hard that he caused her to suffer from subdural and retinal haemorrhages.

He was convicted and found guilty of a second degree felony charge, on the single testimony of a child abuse doctor, Dr. Bethany Mohr, who allegedly stood alone against a myriad of peer-reviewed studies and reports, which, according to the family, were barred from ever being heard in court.

According to the family, around 20 peer-reviewed articles and studies debunking the SBS theory were kept from being heard in court, and the judge and jury were allegedly prevented from hearing the testimonies of six independent medical experts, who had examined Naomi’s medical records and concluded, with some degree of clarity, that Naomi’s symptoms may not have been the result of abuse.

Their reports and testimonies may be found here.

Joshua Looses Custody and Visitation Rights

Despite the overwhelming evidence suggesting other possible causes for Naomi’s injuries, she was taken into state custody on April 3, 2014, and placed in foster care with strangers.

Due to courts’ findings, although her mother, Brenda, was permitted visitation rights with Naomi, Joshua was blocked from having contact with his daughter. He was given one hour to pack his things and leave their home. He is under a “no-contact” order, due to the fact that he was charged with child abuse. There remains a hearing for termination of his parental rights.

After seven long months of separation, Brenda was permitted to bring baby Naomi home. She tells The Liberty Beacon that Naomi has fully recovered from her ordeal and is meeting all of her developmental milestones. She says that her research has shown that a full recovery is evidence that the earlier incidents were not abuse.

Child Protective Services (CPS) continues to harass Brenda, demanding to see Naomi and carry out ongoing home visits, despite clearing her of all charges. Their lawyer has referred to this intrusion as ‘legal terrorism.’ Terrified by their threats, Brenda has gone into hiding with her daughter.

See video here: CPS labels mom an abuser despite being cleared of charges.

This leaves us with one question: Did Mr. Burns really cause Naomi’s injuries, as suggested by Dr. Mohr, or is he innocent of any wrongdoing?

Difficult Birth May Have Been Responsible For Baby’s Injuries

When the day of Naomi’s birth finally arrived, in January 2014, because Mrs. Burns was having immense difficulty giving birth, doctors decided to use a device called a vacuum extractor, which they attached to the baby’s head to assist delivery. However, after several failed attempts, they decided to deliver Naomi by Caesarean.

As a result of her traumatic birth, Naomi suffered from a large hematoma on the side of her head and jaundice, both common complications of vacuum assisted births. See Vacuum Assisted Delivery: Do You Know the Risks?

According to the website Vacuum Assisted Delivery: Do You Know the Risks?, these are not the only complications that can occur using this technique, as retinal and subdural haemorrhages are also listed as possible complications. The website states:

“Retinal hemorrhage (small areas of bleeding on the back of the eyes) is relatively common in newborns, regardless of the type of delivery. This condition is usually not serious; it resolves spontaneously and leaves no residual effect.

As many as 28% of newborns have some retinal hemorrhage detected after birth.

Although one recent study found the proportion of babies born with retinal hemorrhage was the same among normal vaginal deliveries, forceps-assisted vaginal deliveries, and vacuum-assisted vaginal deliveries …

other studies suggest the number of infants with this condition is slightly higher among babies delivered by vacuum extraction.

The exact cause of the retinal bleeding is unknown, but the fact that children born by cesarean section have a lower incidence of this problem suggests the pressure placed on the baby’s head as it passes through the birth canal may be responsible.”

In fact, according to Naomi’s medical records, she suffered four out of the five possible complications mentioned on the website. Despite this fact, however, her traumatic birth was not considered as a possibility of the injuries in court and a peer-reviewed paper written by Steven C. Gabaeff, M.D., which supported this possibility, was excluded from the evidence by the judge. Dr. Gabaeff stated:

“Subdural hematoma may also be the result of common birth trauma,

complicated by prenatal vitamin D deficiency, which also contributes to the appearance of long bone fractures commonly associated with child abuse.

Retinal hemorrhage is a non-specific finding that occurs with many causes of increased intracranial pressure, including infection and hypoxic brain injury.” (own emphasis)

He concluded:

“According to the evidence presented here, the “prognostic” relationship between shaking and RH is seriously called into question. It appears that SBS does not stand up to an evidenced-based analysis. It appears that RH should not be used as a diagnostic sign of child abuse.”

Reading through Dr. Gaebeff’s extensive and well-researched paper, we need to ask ourselves why this valuable document was refused as possible evidence by the judge.

Naomi Became Ill One Week after Multiple Vaccinations

Mr. Burns says that Naomi received her scheduled vaccinations on March 7, aged 2-months, and that she became ill one week later. This was confirmed in the medical report written by Dr. Bethany Mohr. She reported that Naomi became ill on March 16, 2014, and on page 81 of her report, she wrote:

“IMMUNIZATIONS: Up to date. Naomi received her 2-month immunizations on March 7th 2014.”

Therefore, it is possible that Naomi’s injuries were a direct result of a vaccine injury.

Fact: Studies Link Vaccines to Shaken Baby Syndrome

In a peer-reviewed study, written by Dr. Michael Innis, titled Vaccines, Apparent Life-Threatening Events, Barlow’s Disease, and Questions about Shaken Baby Syndrome …

He wrote:

“Apparent Life-Threatening Events (ALTEs), as defined by the National Institutes of Health, encompass all the findings hitherto attributed to .Shaken Baby Syndrome. (SBS), and may follow routine vaccination. Vaccines may also induce vitamin C deficiency (Barlow.s disease), especially in formula-fed infants or infants whose mothers smoke. This could account for some of the changes seen in these infants, including hemorrhages, bruises, and fractures. Vitamin C deficiency should be excluded in patients suspected to have SBS.”

Despite his recommendations, however, it is very rare for a baby suffering from the SBS triad to be tested for a vitamin C deficiency.

In second paper, written by Dr. Michael Innis, titled Autoimmune Tissue Scurvy Misdiagnosed as Child Abuse …

He wrote:

“Some doctors are unaware of the pathophysiological processes of autoimmunity, haemostasis and osteogenesis and are misdiagnosing vaccine induced tissue scurvy, absence of vitamin C within the cell, as non-accidental injury.”

His paper outlined three cases of children suffering from symptoms mimicking those of shaken baby syndrome (SBS), whose parents were subsequently accused of child abuse. It was later discovered that all three parents were innocent, and far from being abused, their children were suffering from the autoimmune disease scurvy.

Dr. Innis wrote:

“Tissue scurvy, unlike the “seafarer scurvy” of yesteryear, is a condition in which vitamin C is abundant in the blood but is unable to enter the cell because of a lack of insulin which is required to transfer the vitamin C into the cell.”

He continued:

“The many faces of tissue scurvy in childhood include sudden infant death syndrome, alleged non-accidental injury, shaken baby syndrome, abusive head trauma, inflicted brain injury, Reye’s syndrome, Kawasaki disease, anaphylaxis and diabetes type I. All have one feature in common – hyperglycemia, the signature of insulin deficiency resulting from vaccines, and other forms of antigenic stress which damage the beta cells of the islets of Langerhans resulting in hypoinsulinemia and tissue scurvy.”

Dr. Innis firmly believes that doctors are misdiagnosing vaccine-induced tissue scurvy (an absence of vitamin C within the cell) as a non-accidental injury.

Dr. Innis Does Not Stand Alone

The late Dr. Archie Kalokerinos was one of the first professionals to link vaccinations to scurvy. He first noticed there was a problem while he was working with Aborigine children in Australia in 1962.

While there, he noticed an extremely high death rate among children who had been recently vaccinated. After rejecting the usual explanations, his research led him to the conclusion that the infants were suffering from a severe lack of vitamin C, or scurvy.

Dr. Kalokerinos spoke about his experiences worldwide and included his research in many books and papers on the subject. However, when he mentioned his fears to the government, instead of investigating the problem as he had expected, he was met with extreme hostility.

In an interview documented in the International Vaccine Newsletter – June 1995, he stated:

“At first it was just a simple clinical observation. I observed that many infants, after they received routine vaccines like tetanus, diptheria, polio, whooping cough or whatever, became ill. Some became extremely ill, and in fact some died. It was an observation, it was not a theory. So my first reaction was to look at the reasons why this happened. Of course I found it was more likely to happen in infants who were ill at the time of receiving a vaccine, or infants who had been ill recently, or infants who were incubating an infection. Of course in the early stages of incubation there is no way whatsoever that anyone can detect the disease. They turn up later on. Furthermore, some of the reactions to the vaccines were not those that were listed in the standard literature. They were very strange reactions indeed.

A third observation was that with some of these reactions which normally resulted in death, I found that I could reverse them by giving large amounts of vitamin C intramuscularly or intravenously.”

Extremely concerned by his observations, he tried to alert the government to what was happening. However, what happened next shocked him. He explained:

“One would have expected, of course, that the authorities would take an interest in these observations that resulted in a dramatic drop in the death rate of infants in the area under my control, a very dramatic drop. But instead of taking an interest their reaction was one of extreme hostility. This forced me to look into the question of vaccination further, and the further I looked into it, the more shocked I became. I found that the whole vaccine business was indeed a gigantic hoax. Most doctors are convinced that they are useful, but if you look at the proper statistics and study the instance of these diseases you will realize that this is not so.”

Strong words, I am sure you will agree, especially as he concluded the interview by stating that:

“My final conclusion after forty years or more in this business is that the unofficial policy of the World Health Organization and the unofficial policy of Save the Children Fund and almost all those organizations is one of murder and genocide.

They want to make it appear as if they are saving these kids, but in actual fact they don’t. I am talking of those at the very top. Beneath that level is another level of doctors and health workers, like myself, who don’t really understand what they are doing.”

For a selection of papers linking vaccinations and SBS, see section 12 of the Information Packs, which you can download for free at Parents and Carers Against Medical Injustice.

Naomi Was Caught Falling by Her Loving Father

On March 15, Brenda left the house for a hair appointment, while her husband Joshua watched the baby. Before she left the salon, she phoned home while he was in the process of burping Naomi on his lap after her bottle. As he hung up the phone, Naomi lunged forward and began falling off of his lap. He reached to grab her, catching her face, keeping it from hitting the coffee table. The incident scared Joshua, but the only apparent injury was a mark on her face from where he had caught her.

As soon as Brenda arrived home, she checked on Naomi, who appeared fine and acted normally. Unconcerned, the parents continued the day’s activities, which included a church banquet that night. Joshua and Brenda mentioned the incident to several friends, but were reassured by seasoned parents that accidents happen even with the best of parents.

Still concerned, the parents decided to take Naomi to ER, just to be on the safe side. Joshua told TLB that:

“I told the first ER doctor about the fall and they dismissed it. ER record said scratch on Naomi’s face consistent with fall from dad’s knee. We went to the ER 3 days in a row because of her symptoms and we were discharged and sent home each time.”

Dr. Mohr Suspects Foul Play

Despite this information, however, Dr. Mohr reported that she found it highly unusual that a child would sustain an injury from being protected from a fall and she felt that ‘bruising in any region for an infant less than 4-months is highly predictive of child abuse.’

Whilst I agree that any bruising on a young baby may be a symptom of child abuse and should always be investigated fully, I also feel that doctors examining babies should be open to the possibility that there are many innocent causes of bruising, and therefore, they should examine all possible causes before jumping to conclusions about the parents.

Determined to prove her point, Dr. Mohr asked experts to have Joshua demonstrate with a doll what happened to Naomi when she fell off his lap. Hoping that it would demonstrate his innocence, Joshua agreed.

Although childbirth educators often use dolls that are weighted and proportioned similar to real babies, the child abuse doctor brought in a doll which only weighed a pound or two. As Joshua tried to demonstrate how fast he moved to keep Naomi from hitting the coffee table, the doll went flying. Shocked, Joshua explained that was not what happened and stated:

“Well, it didn’t happen like that.”

Unconvinced, Dr. Mohr used this demonstration as evidence of abuse and concluded in her report that “catching Naomi like that would be abuse.”

Short Fall Injuries and Shaken Baby Syndrome

However, Dr. Mohr’s assumptions may have been incorrect, as new evidence has shown that young children can suffer serious or even fatal injuries after a relatively short fall has occurred. In a study written in 2009 by Dr. John Plunkett, titled Fatal Pediatric Head Injuries Caused By Short Distance Falls, Dr.Plunkett wrote:

“Many physicians believe that a simple fall cannot cause serious injury and that retinal hemorrhage is highly suggestive if not diagnostic for inflicted trauma. However, several have questioned these conclusions or urged caution when interpreting head injury in a child. This controversy exists because most infant injuries occur in the home and if there is a history of a fall, it is usually not witnessed or is seen only by the caretaker.”

He continued:

“This study utilizes various case histories that can be viewed in the link below. It discusses the biophysical characteristics of the brain and skull, the level and duration of force, subdural hemorrhages, lucid intervals, retinal hemorrhages, pre-existing conditions, cerebrovascular thrombosis and the limitations.”

Dr. Plunkett’s paper and observations have changed the way many professionals examine short falls and short fall injuries. He is not the only professional to believe that short fall injuries can be fatal. For more, read Section 3 of the Information Packs Parents and Carers Against Medical Injustice.

Naomi was only 2 months old when she fell off of Joshua’s lap, and it is possible that the seemingly minor injury that she sustained to her forehead, when Joshua caught her, may have been more serious than it first appeared.

Conclusion

One question remains: Did Joshua abuse his daughter? Although it is entirely possible that he did, careful research of this case has shown several other possibilities that were not examined in court. How can a one-sided case be considered justice? Unless courts are prepared to examine all the independent reports and papers supplied to them, then more and more potentially innocent parents will be locked up for crimes that they did not commit.

To support this family and follow their story, please see their Facebook page called Torn Family. The public is also invited to visit their website here.

Find out more information here: New Film Exposes Shaken Baby Syndrome Myth

A new film exposing the corruption behind much of the Shaken Baby Syndrome diagnosis used to remove children from the custody of their parents, and in some cases put parents behind bars, is currently making its way through the film festival circuit. The Syndrome is a film produced and directed by Meryl Goldsmith, a Los Angeles-based filmmaker who teamed up with her cousin and investigative reporter Susan Goldsmith as the co-producer and editor. It is Meryl Goldsmith’s feature directorial debut, according to the film’s website. Included in the cast are doctors and law professors.