Same Doctor Behind Two Wrongly Convicted Shaken Baby Cases in Massachusetts
Dr. Alice Newton, the Medical Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Child Protection Program, is back in the news. Dr. Newton gained attention in the media in 2014 during the Justina Pelletier medical kidnapping case when she used the designation of "medical child abuse" to take Justina away from her parents. Justina's parents were not happy with the treatment of Justina, and had sought a second opinion, more consistent with their regular doctor. In this report from WCVB in Boston, two people who were accused of "Shaken Baby Syndrome" by Dr. Alice Newton have allegedly had their charges dropped after being wrongly convicted on false evidence. Dr. Newton is part of a recently created pediatric specialty that looks for medical child abuse. Some would say that these specialists must find medical abuse to justify their positions, and that they often are quick to make judgments without considering other evidence.