Sue Luttner
technical and medical writer
technical and medical writer
Sue Luttner is a technical writer and occasional journalist who has found herself following an astonishing medico-legal controversy. Her work on this blog presents what is today the minority opinion in an ongoing debate surrounding shaken baby syndrome, renamed "abusive head trauma" in 2009 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Her blog posting "My Front-Row Seat at a Bitter Professional Debate" explains how she was drawn into the arena through a family she knew and then followed the story to the medical library and beyond.
She maintains a web site about shaken baby syndrome at http://onsbs.com/.
She administers a Facebook page about SBS at
Dr. Norman Guthkelch, the grandfather of shaken baby theory, is on a new campaign.
Fathers exonerated of child abuse are on a streak lately, after years of pain and struggle for the families involved.
Three journalists in the West have come out with refreshingly thorough and thoughtful treatments of local shaken baby cases, while a steady stream of plea bargains flows under the news net....
Did the writers at "Silent Witness" know that their Helen Karamides character was such a close match for Dr. Waney Squier (except, of course, for the parts about the suicide, the alcoholism, and the theft of infant brains)?
<p>While theories about infant head injury evolve, new cases offer new twists and old cases linger in the appeals courts.</p>
<p>A commutation of sentence for grandmother Shirley Ree Smith has brought the medical debate around shaken baby syndrome back into the news.</p>
<p>Practitioners of "baby dynamic" exercises say it improves strength and encourages early development.</p>
<p>Although the diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome has enjoyed wide acceptance for 30 years, biomechanical research continues to cast doubt on the fundamental thinking behind the theory.</p>
<p>Debate about a tragic diagnosis polarizes and escalates</p>
<p>A newly released videotape raises questions about coerced confessions from distraught parents</p>