“A child dies every five days from mistreatment in their family environment, the objective is not to call this reality into question,” Mathieu Habasque immediately asks before starting the interview.
“The objective is to focus on a gray area regarding cases of shaken babies, which sometimes unfairly send parents to prison.”
The journalist from Konbini, director of the documentary
Presumed Guilty
, released on February 25, questioned the errors in diagnosis of this syndrome, after the wrongly indictment of a couple of friends.
First case of abuse in France, many parents nevertheless proclaim their innocence.
After several months of investigation, the latter heard from several families indicted on the basis of erroneous medical opinions.
“It’s a nightmare that has befallen us,” they say in unison.
Adèle, Maria, Frédérique, who appear on the screen, were all suspected of having violated their baby, or worse, of having killed him;
before being acquitted.
Since then, they have “survived”.
How to do otherwise?
Interview.
To discover
Business masterclass: on March 8, treat yourself to some time for yourself
Also read: “Some end up manipulating children as if they were objects”: Babyzness, in the hell of private nurseries
A car accident at 150km/h
Madame Figaro.-
What is the exact definition of “shaken baby syndrome”?
Mathieu Habasque.-
According to the High Authority of Health, this is the name given to child abuse which mainly affects children under 1 year old.
More precisely, it is a set of head traumas due to repeated and very violent shaking, most often by manual seizure of the baby's chest under the armpits.
Some compare this shock to a car accident at more than 150 km/h or to a fall from several floors.
In 1 in 10 cases, it is fatal, and, among the children who survive, 75% have irreversible after-effects.
It is the leading cause of abuse among infants.
If we base ourselves on figures from Public Health France, this would concern 500 newborns per year.
Some people think that this data is underestimated, others say the opposite, but it is already a good average.
What is the medical examination based on to diagnose this syndrome?
As it is assessed in newborns who cannot speak or say what they have experienced, health professionals rely on three clinical signs: subdural hematomas (
blood around the brain, Editor's note
), retinal hemorrhages (
blood at the back of the eyes, Editor's note
) and rupture of the bridging veins.
When a baby is admitted to the hospital and presents these three lesions, doctors are ordered to make a report because this would determine with certainty that we are dealing with a shaken baby, which is not always the case.
You say that these three criteria are too approximate...
Medicine is constantly evolving and we still have a lot to learn about childhood illnesses.
Historically, shaken baby syndrome was theorized in the 1970s by an American radiologist.
It is to him that we owe these three reference elements, taken up years later in many countries.
The idea was to standardize the diagnosis and finally tackle the problem head on, which was, in itself, a good thing.
In France, the High Authority for Health published its recommendations for good practices in 2011, based on this work.
But since then, many scientists have called it into question, citing other symptoms to determine with certainty its control, such as other fractures and visible bruises.
Today, Canada, the United States and Sweden no longer refer to these three criteria alone, but have broadened their examinations.
In France, we did the opposite.
Since 2017, these three injuries, which were then described as “probable shaking”, have been transformed into “definite shaking”.
The families wrongly accused all describe the same scenario: the infant's eyes suddenly rolling back, the limbs stiffening... What can be the other explanations for the said lesions?
For some parents who were exonerated after their indictment, it was ultimately a question of orphan diseases, external hydrocephalus or rare infections.
This is for those for whom we managed to make another diagnosis.
In other cases, no other reason can be found, and this is what leads to the heaviest sentences for the parents.
This does not necessarily mean that they are guilty, but that, as we do not yet know the child's illness, we will base ourselves on these three existing criteria, even though they are criticized today.
How do doctors defend themselves?
The High Authority for Health (HAS) reacted to this type of questioning in 2019, emphasizing that its recommendations drawn up in 2011 were written by “more than 50 experts from the world of health, associations, the social sector , justice, police and gendarmerie as well as civil society” and that it “updated its recommendation in 2017 to take into account the progress made in the area”.
In reality, it is a “war of experts” and debates on the subject are often extremely virulent and difficult to approach rationally, due to the strong emotional impact that child abuse represents.
Because it is important to remember at this stage that a child dies every five days at the hands of their parents or close family members.
Doctors and early childhood professionals are therefore faced with a permanent emergency and a high risk of recurrence.
This is why HAS experts consider that shaken baby syndrome must be diagnosed as early as possible to avoid recurrence and greater damage.
Doctors must therefore act quickly and well, in a context with a lot of pressure.
This is the famous precautionary principle, which consists, even if the diagnosis is not certain, of prioritizing the protection of the child.
This is a good thing and we would have liked to hear from HAS experts on this subject.
But they all refused to respond to our interview requests...
Interrogation and indictment
What happens once the report has been given by the health authorities?
When a child survives his illness, he remains in the hospital for several days to carry out further medical examinations, aimed at better identifying the origin of the brain damage.
Then, an educational investigation begins, to try to find out whether or not the child is living in a potentially abusive family environment.
This investigation generally lasts several months, during which the child is placed either with a foster family or with their extended family (with their grandparents for example).
At the same time, the case is sent to criminal court to judge the parents' responsibility.
Things become even more complicated when the child dies in hospital because, in this case, the parents (or nannies) are prosecuted for infanticide.
On one side or the other, we rely on medical advice and the families are truly mistreated.
I am thinking of Alexandre, a father of three children who lost his eldest in 2013. The police investigation was very offensive, with investigators going so far as to present him with photos of the autopsy to make him react and obtain a confession
( after the investigation, Alexandre was sentenced to 5 years in prison for infanticide; he still maintains his innocence, Editor's note
).
A close friend of yours has also been there...
And is still going through it.
A year and a half ago, he lost his child, a two-month-old boy.
He felt unwell and they took him to the hospital, where he died two weeks later.
At almost the same time, he and his wife were placed in police custody with indictment.
I didn't understand, and I saw their suffering and that of their entire family.
They are still awaiting their trial date.
I wanted to explore the subject.
These are not isolated cases.
Read alsoCarer, police officer, lawyer... They experience brutality and violence on a daily basis
12 years in prison
Many childminders, mostly women, are also accused of shaken baby syndrome. Maria, who appears in
Presumed Guilty
, for example spent 7 months in prison before being exonerated...
Her case is quite symbolic.
She was a childminder for thirty years, looked after more than sixty children, and was accused of mistreatment on the verge of retirement.
A child felt unwell in her home, her eyes rolled back, her body contracted.
She rushed to the hospital for treatment.
And then, it's the metaphor of dominoes: she waits for the doctor to understand what happened, she is told of the three lesions, and she is put under investigation for shaking the baby.
Unlike parents, who have access to the child's medical file and who can, for their part, try to investigate other possible causes of death with their lawyers, Maria is one of the people who has little chance to defend yourself.
As a childminder, she had no access to it.
She received 12 years in prison.
Ultimately, she would only serve 7 months before being acquitted.
How did she prove her innocence?
Thanks to her husband, who created online funds to pay for a good lawyer.
She was able to have access to the medical file and on appeal the judge concluded that it was a “natural death”.
But Maria ruined herself to be able to get there.
It must be understood that in these cases there is a triple penalty: mourning, indictment and all the financial costs that a defense costs behind.
In just a year and a half, my friend is already 13,000 euros in legal fees, because these are cases where families must be very well defended and where very few firms specialize in this.
Adèle, Maria and Frédérique all meet at the end of your documentary. The emotion is strong and we feel very united...
Faced with such ordeals, it is quite overwhelming to know that we are not alone, that others understand and experience the same thing as us.
As Maria says: “We will never be the same again, we will always have to live with that.”
Over the months, I saw how broken they all are inside.
I believe that in a certain way we gave them back their voice.
They are bruised, but now they only fight for themselves, they also do it for everyone else.