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Chapter 1 - Maintaining the Orthodoxy and Silencing Dissent

from Section 1 - Prologue

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 June 2023

By
Chris Brook
Edited by
Keith A. Findley ,
Cyrille Rossant ,
Kana Sasakura ,
Leila Schneps ,
Waney Squier  and
Knut Wester
Keith A. Findley
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Cyrille Rossant
Affiliation:
University College London
Kana Sasakura
Affiliation:
Konan University, Japan
Leila Schneps
Affiliation:
Sorbonne Université, Paris
Waney Squier
Affiliation:
John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford
Knut Wester
Affiliation:
Universitetet i Bergen, Norway
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Summary

Shaken baby syndrome (SBS) is a controversial medical ‘diagnosis’ that is challenged by an increasing number of reputable medical professionals, scientists, and lawyers. This chapter outlines various attacks made on those who challenge the mainstream view of the scientific and forensic reliability of these medical determinations, with the goal of delegitimising their perspective and maintaining the authority of the orthodoxy. The scientific and medical debate in the field has become toxic, described as ‘tribal warfare’. The chapter identifies and explains the fault lines at the interfaces between science, law, and medicine that have led to such an unhealthy environment, and how this has impeded the progress of science in the field.

Keywords

silencing dissentevidence-based medicinescientific controversydelegitimising dissentmaintaining orthodoxyGMCiInterface of sciencelawand medicine
Type
Chapter
Information
Shaken Baby Syndrome
Investigating the Abusive Head Trauma Controversy
 , pp. 1 - 10
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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