可怕的“摇晃婴儿综合征”

没有什么罪行比杀害婴儿更令人震惊或愤怒的了。近期，美国频频有男女被控因孩子长时间啼哭或不愿睡觉，感到非常烦躁，便以猛烈摇晃的方法，企图制止他们哭闹，结果要了婴儿的性命。今天就让我们一起了解一下什么是“摇晃婴儿综合征及其起源。

Shaken baby syndrome is the most common cause of death or serious neurological injury resulting from child abuse.

“摇晃婴儿综合征是因虐童行为导致儿童或造成其神经严重受损最常见的原因。

It has been a recognized diagnosis for several decades, though many medical professionals now prefer the term abusive head trauma.

“摇晃婴儿综合征作为一种得到认可的诊断结果已有几十年的历史了，不过现在很多医学专家更喜欢用“虐待性头部创伤这个说法。

Shaken baby syndrome is defined by a constellation of symptoms known as the triad: brain swelling, bleeding on the surface of the brain and bleeding behind the eyes. For years, those three symptoms by themselves were uniformly accepted as evidence that a crime had been committed, even in the absence of bruises, broken bones or other signs of abuse.

这种综合征是由一系列称为“三要素的症状来定义的：脑肿胀、脑表面出血、视网膜出血。多年来，这三种症状一直被认为是发生了犯罪行为的证据，即便没有淤青、骨折或其他虐待迹象。

The concept of shaken baby syndrome is introduced to many Americans through a Massachusetts criminal case: the 1997 murder trial of Louise Woodward, an 18-year-old British au pair accused of having shaken an 8-month-old boy, Matthew Eappen, so aggressively that he died.

很多美国人是通过马萨诸塞州的一起刑事案件，了解到摇晃婴儿综合征这个概念的。该案在1997年庭审，当时，18岁的英国交换生路易丝·伍德沃德被控用力摇晃八个月大的婴儿马修·伊彭致其死亡。