On January 17, 2022, the government launched an awareness campaign on Shaken Baby Syndrome.
According to the government, around 300 children are affected each year in France.
But there is debate on the definition of this syndrome.
And therefore on the way forward to both protect children in danger and avoid sending innocent parents to prison.
It is a complex debate where drama is never far away.
In France, the issue of shaken baby syndrome is causing a lot of ink to flow.
Some believe that the procedure to follow in the event of suspicion, recommended by the High Authority for Health, risks sending innocent people to prison and removing newborns from their parents who have done nothing.
Others retort that the priority remains to protect babies in danger of death.
On the occasion of National Shaken Baby Syndrome Day, this Tuesday April 5,
20 Minutes
tries to see more clearly.
Three lesions point to shaken baby syndrome
Shaken Baby Syndrome affects around 300 children under the age of one each year, 75% of whom are under six months old.
More than 10% die, and three-quarters of survivors have lifelong sequelae: cognitive impairment, behavioral problems, attention problems, vision problems, hemiplegia, epilepsy, etc.
How do you spot a child victim?
The HAS recommendations, published in 2011 and refined in 2017, describe three characteristic lesions: “a very particular multifocal subdural hematoma, which is only encountered in certain very violent accidents;
retinal hemorrhage;
and rupture of the bridge veins”, list Anne Laurent-Vannier, neurologist and president of the HAS working group.
For her, there can be no confusion between a shock following a fall or a game and these extremely rare and serious injuries.
HAS has therefore struggled to define the most objective criteria possible.
Above all, before reporting the parents, the medical team must look for possible medical causes, since these lesions can also be linked to meningitis, leukemia, a coagulation disease, etc.
“90% of my clients have no criminal records”
But a completely different echo comes from the families concerned.
Grégoire Etrillard, a lawyer specializing in these cases of shaken babies, regrets that we associate too quickly subdural hematoma and shaken baby syndrome.
“Either the baby dies, and it is almost certain that one of the parents will go to prison, he summarizes.
Either he manages, and he is often placed for a period of one year or more in 90% of cases.
I've been specializing in shaken babies for ten years and I've never seen a confession from parents.
However, confessions of family violence, rape, there are.
In addition, 90% of my clients have no criminal records.
We can get upset about an infant, but here we are talking about a parent who shakes a baby like a plum tree.
»
Complicated for all that to exclude the hypothesis of abuse when a doctor receives an apathetic baby in the emergency room, with broken bones and bleeding in the skull.
“Of course there are people who shake the children, annoys Grégoire Etrillard.
But the purpose of the investigations is not to verify the existence of a shaking, but to impute it to someone”.
“It is only after the multidisciplinary team has carried out a medical check-up with fundus, radio of the entire skeleton and scanner that we can define with certainty whether we are facing a shaken head syndrome, retorts the neurologist.
In addition, it is based on the story told by the adults.
When a child falls out of a high chair, adults always tell the same story.
But in the context of a shaken baby, it is often changeable, absent or incompatible with the severity of the lesions.
But the lawyer points out shortcomings.
“The research is not thorough enough, the explanations of the parents swept away.
No one knows all the explanations for a subdural hematoma.
»
“We fall from the clouds”
Another problem: the fall as an explanation for the lesions often seems to be ruled out.
As shown by the story of François and Aline*, clients of Grégoire Etrillard.
Their twins were born in Necker, premature, in September 2018. “In June 2019, our pediatrician detected rigidity on one of the two, he did not sit down,” explains the mother.
This is confirmed by a psychomotor therapist.
Then the couple's life changed on August 21, 2019. “I was at home, with my cleaning man.
My son tries to climb on my back, he loses his balance and falls backwards, continues the mother.
»
In Necker, the doctors do not seem worried.
But the next day, the neuropsychiatrist accuses them of abuse.
“We fall from the clouds, remembers the mother.
Necker's social services are skeptical.
The police too.
We pass three interviews at the Children's Social Aid, which recommends that the child return home.
But the report triggers his placement in the nursery.
It's the shock!
»
The hospital will keep their son for two weeks, before he is placed with his grandparents with his brother.
“We could see them, but not alone and without sleeping with them.
Six months later, the judge stops the placement but extends the educational measure.
"We are finally going home and we can take care of our children," breathes François.
And in March 2021, the judge stops the follow-up and tells us that the file is empty.
But there will be a criminal prosecution.
We're living with a Damocles sword for something we've never done.
“Especially since their son had neither operation nor after-effects.
“And his pediatrician says it's known that premature babies are at risk for intracranial hemorrhages.
»
An illustration of terrible failures in this kind of files.
“The HAS recommendations are too assertive where science doubts, regrets François.
The precautionary principle prevails over the principle of innocence.
The father, tested, ends on a positive note: “our son was saved, others are less fortunate.
Today, our two children are doing well.
»
"We can have suspicions, but remain rational"
“The debate is global, assures Grégoire Etrillard.
One can have suspicions, but remain rational.
» « If we have a doubt, what else can we do but place the child?
retorts Anne Laurent-Vanier.
Who insists: “We are talking about a provisional placement order, not systematic.
And in many trials, the alleged perpetrators of this violence have not served a day in prison.
»
She admits some anger.
“HAS's work was carried out by a hundred professionals, after studying hundreds of articles and received no scientific criticism.
My goal is not for people to be condemned, but for the violence to be identified.
In 2022 or 2023, HAS plans to refine its recommendations.
But in no way to go back.
»
*Names have been changed.
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