burns, broken bones, or other signs of child abuse. When a parent or care giver .
cannot explain how the baby got hurt, and this will raise suspicion to the .
doctors. Doctors are legally and morally obligated to report Shaken Baby .
Syndrome or any other child abuse case to the police or to child welfare .
authorities.
These professionals will take steps to protect the child from any further .
abuse. The parents will have to go through numerous amounts of counseling .
before the child or children are returned back to the .
home.
"An estimate 50,000 cases occur each year in the United States one.
shaken baby in four dies as a result of this abuse. Head trauma is the most .
frequent cause of permeant damage or death between abused infants and .
children, and shaking accounts for a significant number of those cases" By .
shaking a baby, the baby's fragile brain will slam against the skull wall resulting .
in cerebral hemorrhage, swelling and bruises. This will also cause bleeding .
within the brain or tears in the brain tissue. The out come of this is severe brain .
damage or death.
"Approximately 75-90 percent of these cases have retinal hemorrhages, a .
symptom almost never seen with accidental head injuries. A baby's brain, along .
with the blood vessels connecting the skull to the brain is fragile and .
Undeveloped. Therefore when a baby is shaken the brain ricochets off the skull .
causing the blood vessels to tear away and blood to fill the inside of the skull." .
The majority of the abusers are men in their early 20's. the abuser is .
usually the father of the baby, or the boyfriend of the mother. Females who .
injure babies by shaking them are most likely to be the babysitters, or the child .
care provider.
"In New York State almost 70% of the cases were male and Approximable 80 percent of the victims were under the age of one. The average ages of victims .
in New York State were six months old, with a range of three weeks to twenty-two months.
