Parents Still Lose Kids to Discredited 'Shaken Baby' Claims

Chelsea F.'s baby, Teddy (both pseudonyms used at the family's request), was born with serious genetic problems—heart defects, breathing issues, and brain abnormalities. But when Chelsea rushed the five-month-old to a Texas emergency room in January after he developed a fever, seizures, vomiting, and what was later determined to be a brain bleed, the doctor on call didn't see a fragile infant with complex medical needs.

She accused Chelsea and her husband of child abuse.

The hospital's child abuse pediatrician (CAP) accused Chelsea and her husband of shaking their baby. The diagnosis, now labeled abusive head trauma (AHT), is the rebranded form of "shaken baby syndrome," a theory increasingly understood as junk science. (The National Registry of Exonerations lists 34 people in 18 states