A commentary on Johnson et al.’s “Shaken baby syndrome/abusive head trauma: Wrongful conviction risks, mis-information effects, and psychological consultation”

ABSTRACT

Abusive Head Trauma (AHT) is a medical diagnosis which indicates that accidents, diseases, or other medical conditions do not plausibly explain a child’s injuries. While psychologists may be involved in AHT cases, they do not generally evaluate children at the time injuries caused by AHT occur and they do not diagnose those injuries. This article is a commentary on Johnson et al, which advises that psychologists would benefit from understanding the medical aspects of an AHT case. This is a laudable goal. However, in an effort to discuss medical issues regarding AHT and legal exonerations, the article presents flawed data and speculative theories which are unsupported by medical evidence or the extensive range of generally accepted medical literature. We discuss some of these flaws and present a more in-depth medical analysis in the hope that interested psychologists gain more understanding of this very complex area of medical specialty.

KEYWORDS:

• Abusive head trauma
• Shaken baby syndrome
• child abuse
• speculative theories

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.