Blame the parents   Shaken Baby Syndrome

Man Serving Life for Killing his Baby Daughter Could be Innocent!

by Christina England
August 20, 2012

Just a few years ago Tonya and Elwood Sadowsky believed that life could not get any better after Tonya gave birth to a beautiful baby girl Amanda. For the first time ever the couple were happier than they ever thought possible. Sadly, their happiness was cut short when aged just four months old Amanda died unexpectedly. Elwood was immediately arrested and charged for his daughter's murder because he was caring for his daughter at the time she was taken ill.

Amazingly, in June 2007, without ever having a trial, Elwood Sadowsky was jailed for life for Shaken Baby Syndrome. According to wife Tonya, Elwood was forced into taking a guilty plea a few days before the trial was due to have started. He was threatened by the prosecution and emotionally blackmailed by his own lawyers. This was due to the fact that his lawyers did not know how to defend him! Tonya says:

"They literally didn't know anything about 'Shaken Baby Syndrome' and believed the doctors' diagnosis which was: homicidal blunt force trauma."

Tonya says the day Amanda became ill was just like any other day, although Amanda had been a little off colour since her vaccinations ten days earlier. As usual Tonya left Amanda with her father and went to work. At 2 p.m. Elwood called Tonya at work, saying that he had fallen and broken a coffee table. Tonya thought this was unusual but thought little more about the call. Then at 3:15 pm a distressed Elwood called again saying that he had been in the bedroom and had accidentally dropped Amanda. Amanda's head was swelling and that she was having trouble breathing.

I would like to point out that at no time had Elwood ever been abusive to either his wife or his daughter. In fact Tonya told me that he was one of the gentlest men she knew and he absolutely doted on little Amanda.

Sadly Elwood never saw his daughter again. Amanda was rushed to hospital and then transferred to another hospital by helicopter. She was unresponsive and not breathing. Tonya explained:

"Elwood was detained by the police as the ambulance took Amanda away on June 29, 2007. When she died after midnight on the 30th they gleefully arrested him but he'd been in custody the entire time. He was never freed again after that".

Amanda died from multiple skull fractures and the triad of injuries associated with Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) which are Retinal haemorrhages (bleeding into the linings of the eyes); subdural haemorrhages (bleeding beneath the dural membrane); Encephalopathy (damage to the brain affecting function).

The question is did Elwood Sadowsky deliberately kill his daughter or was her death the result of a series of tragic circumstances?

Dr John Lloyd Ph.D., M.Erg.S., CPE, CBIS Board Certified Ergonomist & Certified Brain Injury Specialist is one of a growing number of professionals to have turned his back on the SBS theory and diagnosis.

He has published a series of papers which raise the possibility that Elwood did not deliberately kill his daughter and in fact her death could have been a tragic accident.

In a paper titled 'Biomechanics of Household Short Falls in Infants and Children.' (1) Dr Lloyd explains how short falls or an accidental drop of a child of up to 2ft 6inches onto varying floor surfaces including concrete landing face up can lead to fatal head injuries.

He demonstrates this by studying systematic assessments of falls in a supine (face up) position from heights ranging from 2 to 6 ft in 2ft increments onto varying flooring surfaces using A CRABI-12 biofidelic mannequin (29.5 in / 22lb and a Hybrid III-3 year old (37.2in / 35.65lb) biofidelic mannequin. Using the mannequins he assesses various short falls onto several surfaces studying in detail one-hundred-and-seventy-five trials to investigate the biomechanical mechanisms of injury associated with short falls in children

He concludes that:

"As anticipated, the larger Hybrid III 3-year old biofidelic mannequin generated higher linear accelerations, HIC values and forces upon impact associated with short falls. Interestingly, both the CRABI12 infant-representative and Hybrid III toddler representative exceeded injury threshold values from a fall height of only 2 feet (61 cm), based on RMS linear acceleration and Head Injury Criterion, which indicates that such short falls can cause substantial head / brain injuries in young children". (1)

Furthermore in another study Dr Lloyd studied in detail how shaking a child even violently is unlikely to produce the triad of injuries associated with Shaken Baby Syndrome. and proved his theory by describing a biomechanical evaluation which was performed to quantify kinematic variables associated with various infant shaking techniques. He compares these techniques to a series of pediatric activities of daily living.

Concluding that:

Firstly, that infant shaking produces head motions that are far below the levels required to cause injury in children

Secondly, head motion during vigorous shaking is very similar to head motion while a 7-month-old infant plays in his jumparoo and there are no recorded cases of head injury attributed to such playful activity

Thirdly, playing in the jumparoo causes repetitive head motion of a frequency similar to that experienced during shaking. Thus repetitive head motion does not increase risk of brain injury.

Finally, that the NCSBS demonstration doll is an unsuitable infant representative. (2)

So how did little Amanada die?

There were three important facts that were not investigated by the police or by the hospital that may have contributed to Amanda's death.

Fact 1: Amanda had reacted adversely to each and every one of her vaccinations:

Examining the timeline of this case an extremely important fact emerges. It is obvious to even the untrained eye that this baby suffered adverse reactions after each vaccination. Her first possible reaction was noted within 24 hours of the Hepatitis B vaccine which she received at birth. Tonya said:

"When she got the Hep B, I wasn't told. She was wheeled into my room SCREAMING her full head off, thrust into my arms with the comment, "She's upsetting the other (inmates) babies in the nursery".

"She was jaundiced by the next day."

In his report Dr Buttram wrote:

"On the next day, Feb. 17^th, according to mother's notes, Amanda was brought in to her from the nursery screaming, as "she was bothering the other babies in the nursery," suggestive of an encephalalitic reaction to the hepatitis B vaccine, something rarely recognized for its true nature."

An encephalalitic reaction after the Hepatitis B vaccine is well documented and is a reaction discussed in many papers. Professionals often refer to high pitched screaming or seizures shortly after this vaccination, indicating a problem. Neil Z Miller an American medical research journalist, anti-vaccine and natural health advocate wrote the following in the Vaccine Safety Manual. (3)

"Many of the mothers noticed that their children had a high-pitched cry soon after their vaccination or vaccinations. This is called the encephalitic cry, meaning that it is caused by an inflamed, swollen brain. It also explains the difficulty many mothers have in waking their children, the vomiting, passing out and irritability following vaccinations. These are all signs of an inflamed brain."

Did Amanda suffer from this reaction and was this the reason that baby Amanda was so distressed? If so the injuries found just weeks later may have been caused by the Hepatitis B vaccine, however, this possibility this was never investigated.

Amanda never really recovered and although the jaundice subsided, loud night breathing was noted at 2 weeks. Amanda was also treated for GERD or reflux, as she was vomiting at regular intervals throughout the day.

By the age of 8 weeks she was still vomiting and had constipation but despite this she still received routine multiple vaccinations. According to the timeline Amanda had a fever the night of her vaccinations and she also developed diarrhea. The next day Amanda was reported to have had screaming and crying fits with gassiness and diarrhea. The screaming continued over several days. Amanda also developed yeasty neck folds and was placed on Benadryl for a facial rash. On 25^th May 2007 she was seen by a doctor who said that her screaming fits were caused by reflux.

On the19^thJune 2007 she received the following routine childhood vaccinations.

DTaP.

Hib

Hep B.

IPV.

Rotateq.

PCV7 1.

Eleven days later Amanda died.

Tonya said:

"I told one doctor I thought she had a headache (postmortem) and I was laughed at. Then I got my own TDaP in 2008 and I moved my eyes to the right and experienced an excruciating headache that made me gasp and hold my head while squeezing my eyes tight. It freaked out my roommate and me. I know for a FACT that's what happened to my daughter after her second month shots."

Tonya's claims were never investigated.

Each one of the vaccines this baby was given has a long history of adverse reactions. These adverse reactions include encephalitis, convulsions, uncontrollable screaming, exceptionally high temperatures, severe brain damage, and death. The common denominators linking all these vaccines are various chemicals and toxins known to be harmful to humans.

Dr Viera Scheibner believes that reactions to routine childhood vaccinations have caused an epidemic of parents being falsely accused of Shaken Baby Syndrome (4)

She wrote:

Recently there has been quite an "epidemic" of the so-called "shaken baby syndrome". Parents, usually the fathers, or other care-givers such as nannies have increasingly been accused of shaking a baby to the point of causing permanent brain damage and death.

While investigating the personal medical history of these babies based on the care-giver's diaries and medical records, I quickly established that these babies were given one or more of the series of so-called routine shots-hepatitis B, DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus), polio and HIB (Haemophilus influenzae type B--shortly before they developed symptoms of illness resulting in serious brain damage or death."

Dr Michael Innis another professional who has speaking out about false accusations of SBS after vaccinations for many years wrote:(5):

"More than a quarter of a century ago I submitted a paper entitled "Oncogenesis and Poliomyelitis Vaccine" to the Editor of the BMJ. It was rejected. Today there are numerous reports of individuals with one or other form of malignancy attributable to Simian virus 40 contaminated Poliomyelitis vaccine administered in childhood [1].My paper was eventually published in Nature[2] having been rejected by another well known Medical Journal. And of course it, and I, were roundly criticized by the Establishment. Andrew Wakefield and V.J. Singh will know the feeling.

Now the public are suspicious about other vaccines and history is repeating itself. My paper on "Coagulopathy mistaken for Shaken Baby Syndrome" was rejected – it recorded the case of a child given six vaccines on the same day and who was ill with fever, irritability and diarrhoea the next day and was dead three weeks later."

Many professionals would agree with him and worry that parents are being falsely accused as a convenient way to cover up vaccine damage. These include Dr Harold Buttram, Lisa Blakemore-Brown, Dr Viera Scheibner, Dr Rebecca Carley, Dr Patrick Barnes, and many more.

Fact 2: Elwood suffered from Moyamoya disease:

Another crucial piece of evidence which could prove that Elwood was innocent was the fact that he suffered from the genetic condition Moyamoya disease. Moyamoya disease can cause sufferers to experience dizziness, blackouts and mini strokes.

In a report Dr Buttram wrote:

"Based on these descriptions of Moyamoya disease, Amanda's father may have been experiencing transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) during the series of mishaps that occurred on June 29^th, with his stumbling over and destroying a coffee table at 2:00 pm and dropping Amanda a little later (3:15 pm)."

Researching moyamoya I found the following information (6).

Adults often experience a hemorrhagic stroke due to recurring blood clots in the affected brain vessels. Individuals with this disorder may have disturbed consciousness, speech deficits (usually aphasia), sensory and cognitive impairments, involuntary movements, and vision problems.

Moyamoya, can be an hereditary disease often found in Japanese descents, Elwood was half Japanese and both he and his sister suffered from the disease. If Elwood had suffered a number of mini TIA's (Strokes) on the day that Amanda was taken ill then it is plausible he dropped Amanda through disturbed consciousness and not through wanting to harm the infant.

Amazingly however, Elwood's condition was not taken into consideration and Amanda was never tested for the condition despite it being hereditary.

Fact 3: Tonya was given Oxytocin during labor:


Another important fact was that Tonya was put on a Pitocin (Oxytocin) drip during labor. Pitocin is a synthetic form of the hormone Oxytocin and is often referred to as the 'Love Hormone' because it is released during a female orgasm.

Sadly few mothers are told of the possible side effects of this drug which include - fetal asphyxia and neonatal hypoxia, physical injury and neonatal jaundice. The use of pitocin also might be a factor in cerebral palsy from deprived oxygen and autism according to the website 'Massage Today' (7)

Did Tonya's Oxytocin drip damage cause Amanda brain damage?

Once again this issue was not raised because Elwood did not have a trial.

Dr Buttram concluded in his report:

"As reviewed in some detail above, there are plausible alternate explanations for each and every pathologic autopsy finding in the case of Amanda Sadowsky, other than inflicted parental child abuse."

Tonya says that she disgusted that at no time was this case ever investigated. She expected the police and medical teams to do their job and find out the truth. Instead, like so often is the case, when SBS is the diagnosis, the parent or care giver has to find the truth themselves before begging for an appeal. In this case the appeal is so that Elwood can actually have a trial. Tonya says:

"I had to go through it alone, in a fog, blindly and mutely waiting for answers that never came. I have spent 4 years and counting thus far searching for them. A forensic pathologist told me that the autopsy was so poorly done and the medical records are pock-marked with holes and missing pieces that he's stunned that anyone could have made a diagnosis of anything at all using them.

The key with SBS is that proof really isn't necessary to convict someone. The conviction is made solely based upon the accusation. It takes on a life of its own. The media ate it up like custard and spewed out its own version of who my husband was, whether it was true or not didn't seem to matter very much. I was told not to talk to them, don't "tip our hand" and then...I never ended up with a voice at all. None of family and friends had the opportunity to tell OUR SIDE of this "story."

If I can't win an appeal to get a trial...we might never get to"

Tonya has since gathered several reports from leading professionals all stating that underlying factors were partly to blame for Amanda's death. All of these reports can all be read on the 'Amanda Truth Project' website. (8)

It is clear that Amanda did not die of natural causes; however, there are many complex issues that were not investigated including adverse reactions to vaccines. It is a fact that Elwood Sadowsky did drop baby Amanda and that he was no saint having been in jail for theft and misuse of credit cards but none of these facts make Elwood a murderer. The question still remains did Elwood kill his daughter or was it a combination of many factors that led to her death? I believe that this was a tragic accident and that Elwood dropped baby Amanda through no fault of his own contributing to her death, however, I also believe this little girl was already dying through drug and vaccine poisoning.