Dr Waney Squier
Shaken Baby Syndrome
"Shaken baby syndrome is rubbish. There is no evidence to support this hypothesis of SBS, and yet it is still being used every day in our courts as the basis on which some very important decisions are made about whether people may be sent to prison, or babies taken away from their families. There is no scientific evidence to support it - there never has been. It is not right that it is still being used in the court if it has no validity." Waney Squier
[2016 Dec] Dr. Waney Squier Speaks out on Faulty Shaken Baby Science Used to Condemn the Innocent ''It was soon after I was reported in April 2010 that I realized what had been going on because the police who reported me, two of the policemen, the head of the Metropolitan Police Child Abuse Squad, went over to a big shaken baby convention in the United States and gave a lecture; he gave a detailed account of what he was doing in this country to increase rates of conviction. And essentially what he described was a campaign to get rid of defence experts who bring science into the courtroom because it confuses the juries, we would report them to their regulatory bodies, we would report them to the Human Tissue Authority. And he described that he’d had meetings with several doctors and lawyers and so on and members of the Crown Prosecution Service and that they had made every attempt to get rid of defence experts in these cases.''
[2016 Nov] 350 Doctors and Scientists Appeal to Bring Back Skeptic ‘Shaken Baby’ Doctor
[2016 Oct] Should Waney Squier have been struck off over shaken baby syndrome?
What has happened to Dr Waney Squier is appalling, and fits with a well-established theme here in the US of attempting to silence critics of shaken baby syndrome through prosecutions, censures, professional ridicule and threats. I am a career investigative reporter with a documentary film (to be released 15 April) all about this. It is called The Syndrome and it is the culmination of eight years of my research. I also happen to be a career reporter who has gotten laws passed in the US to help abused and neglected children (see my bio on website). The attempt to eliminate the opposition in shaken baby syndrome cases is sickening and undemocratic. Dr Squier is a world-renowned neuropathologist whose work and courage should be celebrated. In fact, she is being celebrated, at the very same time that she is being stripped of her medical licence. In early April, Dr Squier will receive a Champion of Justice Award at the National Innocence Network conference in Texas. What the GMC has done is clear. It has sent a message to all who dare question this dogma: speak up and we will ruin your career. The world is watching. Susan Goldsmith, Writer/producer, The Syndrome Why the shaken baby syndrome tribunal led to Dr Waney Squier being struck off. Letters from Niall Dickson of the GMC; barrister Dr Michael J Powers QC; documentary writer/producer Susan Goldsmith; and David Pearl of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service
[2015 Oct] Expert witness on “shaken baby syndrome” faces misconduct charge
[2011
May] At least half of all parents tried over shaken baby syndrome have been
wrongly convicted, expert warns Dr Squier has an impeccable
professional reputation so she was shocked early last year to receive a letter
from the Human Tissue Authority, an organisation which ensures that doctors keep
good records and have consent for everything they do. ‘The Metropolitan Police
had raised concerns about the way I was handling post-mortem tissue and the
possibility that unrecorded material was being stored, used and disposed of
without the knowledge of the police. Fortunately, our procedures at John
Radcliffe are absolutely robust, we know where every piece of tissue is, and no
action was taken. ‘Then last June, I heard that a complaint on the same subject
had been lodged against me with the General Medical Council.’
Dr Squier had to face an interim orders panel, which was set
up after the conviction of Harold Shipman to protect the public and the
profession from dangerous doctors. Her appearance was requested by the National
Policing Improvement Agency and Detective Inspector Colin Welsh, lead
investigator at Scotland Yard’s child abuse investigation command.
...............DI Welsh, in a public lecture, talked disparagingly about
prosecution cases that had failed largely due to expert defence witnesses. He
described a way of eliminating them from criminal and possibly family court
trials, thus precluding alternative views being presented. He believed they
confused the jury and possibly the judges with the complexity of science. DI
Welsh’s solutions included ‘questioning everything – qualifications, employment
history, testimony, research papers presented by these experts, go to their
bodies to see if we can turn up anything’. ...‘It proved in my mind that the
police have set out to remove me and two other neuropathologists who share the
same view from the courts because we have stood in the way of their campaign to
improve conviction rates. If an expert witness bases an opinion on reasonable
scientific ground, even if the opinion is a minority one, it should not be
excluded. ...‘The experience has made me feel like a whistleblower – on the one
hand challenging all those who prefer the comfort of old mainstream opinion, and
on the other struggling for my professional life.’