Jan 21, 2018 02:25 AM
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/neuros...ler-paper/
EXCERPT: . . . The paper is called Prolonged apnea and the sudden infant death syndrome: clinical and laboratory observations and it was written in 1972 by Dr Alfred Steinschneider of Syracuse, New York. In this paper, Steinschneider described the case of a woman, “Mrs H”, who had already lost three children, ostensibly to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).[...] A forensic pathologist, Linda Norton, had formed suspicions about “Mrs H” after reading Steinschneider’s paper, and she brought them to the attention of a prosecutor in Syracuse. In 1992, the prosecutor opened a case against Hoyt. Under police interrogation, Hoyt confessed to killing each of her five children by smothering. She later retracted her confession and denied the charges, pointing to Steinschneider’s paper as evidence of her innocence. It didn’t work: Hoyt was convicted of murder in 1994. She died in jail four years later. This is a tragic case, but also a fascinating one. Why did Dr Steinschneider fail to suspect Hoyt – even after the nurses working in Steinschneider’s lab did repeatedly raise concerns about her? Was he blinded by his desire to confirm his apnea hypothesis?
MORE: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/neuros...ler-paper/
EXCERPT: . . . The paper is called Prolonged apnea and the sudden infant death syndrome: clinical and laboratory observations and it was written in 1972 by Dr Alfred Steinschneider of Syracuse, New York. In this paper, Steinschneider described the case of a woman, “Mrs H”, who had already lost three children, ostensibly to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).[...] A forensic pathologist, Linda Norton, had formed suspicions about “Mrs H” after reading Steinschneider’s paper, and she brought them to the attention of a prosecutor in Syracuse. In 1992, the prosecutor opened a case against Hoyt. Under police interrogation, Hoyt confessed to killing each of her five children by smothering. She later retracted her confession and denied the charges, pointing to Steinschneider’s paper as evidence of her innocence. It didn’t work: Hoyt was convicted of murder in 1994. She died in jail four years later. This is a tragic case, but also a fascinating one. Why did Dr Steinschneider fail to suspect Hoyt – even after the nurses working in Steinschneider’s lab did repeatedly raise concerns about her? Was he blinded by his desire to confirm his apnea hypothesis?
MORE: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/neuros...ler-paper/