Shaffiq Alkhatib Jun 18, 2011
SINGAPORE - Medical evidence presented during the inquest into the death of a baby girl who died in 2009 did not enable him to make a definitive finding, said state coroner Imran Abdul Hamid yesterday.
The issue would remain open for re-consideration by the State if necessary, he said.
National University Hospital consultant Koh Pei Lin had testified that the baby had displayed classic signs of "shaken baby syndrome".
The baby was four months old when she was recorded to have died of bronchopneumonia, a respiratory condition, on Oct 26, 2009.
She was taken to the National University Hospital in an ambulance after her mother found her weak and unresponsive from a high fever with fits in July that year.
The baby spent about three months on life-support before she died in a coma in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
She also had injuries including bleeding in both her eyes - which indicated she could had been suffering from shaken baby syndrome, said Dr Koh, a consultant at the ICU.
The court had earlier heard that repeated, vigorous shaking of a baby would cause a lot of head movements which can cause bleeding and swelling.
However, forensic pathologist Wee Keng Poh, who conducted the post mortem, said these conditions did not completely point to the syndrome.
"The circumstances of the case and its clinical picture must be considered together before coming to the diagnosis", said Dr Wee.
The baby girl was the third child in the family.
Her oldest brother died when he was three months' old in 2008 after suffering a brain injury. Coroner Imran said the mother dropped him after a cyclist knocked into her.
The couple have one surviving son, who was three when the baby girl died.
http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC110618-0000279/No-definitive-finding-in-shaken-baby-case,-says-state-coroner
The issue would remain open for re-consideration by the State if necessary, he said.
National University Hospital consultant Koh Pei Lin had testified that the baby had displayed classic signs of "shaken baby syndrome".
The baby was four months old when she was recorded to have died of bronchopneumonia, a respiratory condition, on Oct 26, 2009.
She was taken to the National University Hospital in an ambulance after her mother found her weak and unresponsive from a high fever with fits in July that year.
The baby spent about three months on life-support before she died in a coma in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
She also had injuries including bleeding in both her eyes - which indicated she could had been suffering from shaken baby syndrome, said Dr Koh, a consultant at the ICU.
The court had earlier heard that repeated, vigorous shaking of a baby would cause a lot of head movements which can cause bleeding and swelling.
However, forensic pathologist Wee Keng Poh, who conducted the post mortem, said these conditions did not completely point to the syndrome.
"The circumstances of the case and its clinical picture must be considered together before coming to the diagnosis", said Dr Wee.
The baby girl was the third child in the family.
Her oldest brother died when he was three months' old in 2008 after suffering a brain injury. Coroner Imran said the mother dropped him after a cyclist knocked into her.
The couple have one surviving son, who was three when the baby girl died.
http://www.todayonline.com/Singapore/EDC110618-0000279/No-definitive-finding-in-shaken-baby-case,-says-state-coroner
