Normal? How can it be normal for infants to have long, inconsolable crying spells to the point where the crying aggravates their caregivers to assault them? Yet this “normality” is what leads to shaken baby syndrome (SBS) according to Dr Ronald Barr of BC Children’s Hospital, one of the presenters at the North American Conference on SBS held in Montreal this September. He and others at The National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome in Utah refer to the wails by the acronym “purple crying”, the second “p” standing for “pain-like facial expression”.
The cases of Alan Yurko of Florida and many others who’ve been unjustly convicted of shaking babies to death shed a very different light on SBS. They involve iatrogenic causes of the eye bleeding and other symptoms ascribed to SBS. Baby Yurko was born premature and sickly but, not to be delayed, the risky contents of six vaccines were thrust into his tiny body on schedule eight weeks after birth. He started “crying purple” ten days following this onslaught but it wasn’t until after he’d stopped breathing and been admitted to hospital that the symptoms which were used against his father first appeared. Later, when he was near death, massive amounts of heparin were administered so that his heart could be harvested. Numerous health experts who testified at Alan’s recent hearing, and documents presented, explained that it was most likely the vaccines combined with poor health that led to baby Yurko’s death. Dr Jane Orient, head of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, testified “People believe and there is a theory, but there is no evidence of SBS.”
In the March 27, 2004 editorial of the British Medical Journal J F Geddes, a reader of clinical neuropathy (now retired and therefore not an easy target for professional pressure) and J Plunkett, a forensic pathologist, address the subject. They cite a 2004 BMJ study by Patrick Lantz et al and a comprehensive review of all the published literature on SBS 1966 to 1998 by Mark Donohoe, MD which show that there is by no means a clear etiology between shaking and the symptoms ascribed to SBS or even to any symptoms. They say “What is the force necessary to injure an infant’s brain? … we do not know.”
Rather, it appears that SBS may be the means to an end of a different sort. In a letter addressing the BMJ editorial, California research attorney Tracy L Emblem notes that Dr Barr, a member of the ‘International Advisory Board’ of The National Center, and 105 pro-“purple crying”/SBS colleagues are finding numerous advantages in perpetuating their theory. For instance, on June 7, 2004 The National Center announced a $1.5 million grant secured for their “purple crying” program, part of which goes to Dr Barr, principal investigator.
To worry parents with agonizing decisions over the ever-increasing lineup of childhood vaccines is bad enough. But to blame them for injuries incurred by these very drugs they are told will protect their children – and then lock them in jail – is nothing but terrorism. In a plea bargain to gain freedom, Alan Yurko waived his right to a retrial. He accepted the seven years he’d already spent in prison by admitting he’d been guilty, not of shaking his son – something he could never do because it was untrue, but of not refusing for his son vaccines that were so obviously contraindicated. His admission should be a sobering wake-up call to parents everywhere.
September 13, 2004
Susan Fletcher,
Vaccination Risk Awareness Network Inc
‘Tot-shaking triggered by ‘purple crying’; The Vancouver Sun, Sept 10, 2004; A2.
Alan Yurko website
The evidence base for shaken baby syndrome: We need to question the diagnostic criteria – editorial, references and letters: British Medical Journal