Abusive head trauma in court: a multi-center study on criminal proceedings in Germany.

The shaken baby syndrome (SBS) is a common variant of abusive head trauma (AHT) in infants and toddlers. Data on the legal outcome of such cases are still sparse. By means of a retrospective multi-center analysis, 72 cases of living children diagnosed with SBS/AHT from three German university institutes of legal medicine were identified. Forty-six of these cases with 68 accused individuals were available and could be evaluated with regard to basic data on the course of the criminal proceedings as well as the profile of the defendants (sub-divided into suspects, convicts, and confessed perpetrators). Criminal proceedings predominantly commenced with a complaint by the treating hospital (62%) and were found to be closed (without judgment) in 50% of the cases, mostly due to a "lack of sufficient suspicion." Of the 23 cases with judgment, the court decided on acquittal in 4 cases (17%). Imprisonment was the most frequent sentence (16 out of 19 cases with conviction, 84%), whereby the sentence has been suspended on probation in 63% of the cases. Suspects and perpetrators were mostly male and derived from the close family environment of the injured children. All confessed perpetrators stated an "excessive demand" as the reason for the violent shaking of the child. The results of the present study are in line with data from other studies with other legal systems. As many criminal proceedings were closed and the 4 acquittals occurred because the perpetration could not be ascribed to a specific perpetrator, improving the forensic methods for such an unequivocal assignment would be desirable.

The Presence of a Large Chiari Network in a Patient with Atrial Fibrillation and Stroke.

The Chiari network is an embryological remnant found in the right atrium, mostly without any significant pathophysiological consequences. However, several cardiac associations are reported in the literature including supraventricular tachyarrhythmias. We present a case of a 96-year-old body donor with a stroke episode and intermittent atrial fibrillations. The dissection of the heart revealed the presence of an immense Chiari network with a large central thrombus. The role of a Chiari network in the pathogenesis of stroke and pulmonary embolism is discussed.