Cot Death Genetic Link: Kathleen Folbigg: Mother who served 20 years for killing her four babies pardoned

[Hoopoe]

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/04/...-folbigg-attorney-general-hnk-intl/index.html

There is now evidence that her children had mutations in the CALM2 or BSN gene which seem like a plausible explanation for their deaths.

 

[Hoopoe]

A paper on the gene variants in the mother and children: https://academic.oup.com/europace/article/23/3/441/5983835?login=false

 

[SNT Gatchaman]

Kathleen Folbigg was jailed in 2003 on three counts of murder and one of manslaughter following the deaths of her four babies over a decade from 1989. In each case, she was the person who found their bodies, though there was no physical evidence that she had caused their deaths.

Instead, the jury relied on the prosecution’s argument that the chances of four babies from one family dying from natural causes before the age of 2 were so infinitesimally low as to be compared to pigs flying.

In the case of the two girls – Sarah and Laura – Bathurst found there was a “reasonable possibility” a genetic mutation known as CALM2-G114R “occasioned their deaths,” and that Sarah may have died from myocarditis, inflammation of the heart, identified during her autopsy.

In the case of Patrick, who had an unexplained ALTE, an apparent life-threatening event, when he was 4 months old and died at 8 months, Bathurst found that it’s possible his death was caused by an underlying neurogenic disorder.

"The new NICE guideline contradicts the old one. This is irrational, because evidence cannot just 'change'."

 

[Andy]

From 2001, about another similar case.

"Sally Clark was sent to prison two years ago, condemned to life inside for murdering her two babies because - among other evidence - there was only 'one chance in 73 million' of the babies, born a year apart, both dying of natural causes.

But the discovery of a cot death gene means that the odds for a second death could have been as high as one in four - and that by hearing 'one in 73 million' the jury was presented with a simple, but false, probability.

The new genetic research raises the possibility that Clark - and other women - have been the victims of an appalling series of miscarriages of justice in multiple cot death cases.

A joint investigation by BBC's Five Live Report and The Observer has revealed a climate of suspicion against mothers who suffer two or more cot deaths, based on the 'crude aphorism' of top paediatrician Professor Sir Roy Meadow that, unless proven otherwise, 'two is suspicious and three is murder'. Sometimes known as 'Meadow's Law', it has been adopted by doctors, lawyers and the police.

Manchester University's discovery of a cot death gene in February knocks flat the view of Meadow and others that one should 'think dirty' about multiple cot deaths."

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/jul/15/johnsweeney.theobserver

 

[Arnie Pye]

"The new NICE guideline contradicts the old one. This is irrational, because evidence cannot just 'change'."

Where does that quote come from?

 

[JemPD]

goodness the horrific suffering. To lose your children & then go to prison for killing them? Its indescribable, and all on the say so of one man. Roy Meadow. Knight of the realm.

Its sickening.

And the same man who came up with Munchausens By Proxy of which so many mothers of PwME are accused ( although now known by FII I believe).

So, very very WRONG.

Roy Meadow - Wikipedia

 

[Hoopoe]

"There is no evidence that cot deaths runs in families", said Meadow, "but there is plenty of evidence that child abuse does". His rule of thumb was that "unless proven otherwise, one cot death is tragic, two is suspicious and three is murder"

By the time he gave evidence at Sally Clark's trial, Meadow claimed to have found 81 cot deaths which were in fact murder, but he had destroyed the data.[16] Amongst the prosecution team was Meadow, whose evidence included a soundbite which was to provoke much argument: he testified that the odds against two cot deaths occurring in the same family was 73,000,000:1, a figure which he erroneously obtained by squaring the observed ratio of live-births to cot deaths in affluent non-smoking families (approximately 8,500:1). In addition he extrapolated his erroneous figures stating that the 1 in 73,000,000 incidence was only likely to occur once every hundred years in England, Scotland and Wales. He further illustrated his miscalculation by stating that the very unlikely odds were the same as successfully backing to win an 80 to 1 outsider in The Grand National for four successive years.[17] The jury returned a 10/2 majority verdict of "guilty".

Meadow's 73,000,000:1 statistic was paraded in the popular press[18][19] and received criticism from professional statisticians over its calculation. The Royal Statistical Society issued a press release stating that the figure had "no statistical basis", and that the case was "one example of a medical expert witness making a serious statistical error."

It seems likely that these ideas and false statistics have influenced how mothers with children with ME are treated.

A few weeks ago I saw a comment by a doctor who said that having two children with ME is likely a sign of Munchausens By Proxy.

 

[Kitty]

Where does that quote come from?

That be good ole' Michael Sharp.

 

[SNT Gatchaman]

Where does that quote come from?

From Brian Hughes' recent presentation. I think it may be a summary of quotes, capturing the sentiment of genuine quotes as written to journals, newspapers and also the Daily Mail. It may also be a direct quote too, but I don't have a primary source to hand if it is.

 

[Midnattsol]

It seems likely that these ideas and false statistics have influenced how mothers with children with ME are treated.

A few weeks ago I saw a comment by a doctor who said that having two children with ME is likely a sign of Munchausens By Proxy.

Having more than one dead sibling, and then becoming ill as a teen, the amount of snide remarks I've heard about my mother being hysterical or overreacting "due to the family history" has been sickening.

 

[Helene]

It seems likely that these ideas and false statistics have influenced how mothers with children with ME are treated.

A few weeks ago I saw a comment by a doctor who said that having two children with ME is likely a sign of Munchausens By Proxy.

"Ever heard of genetics?" I would respond. I have three children who have had ME.

 

[Sean]

Munchausens By Proxy

Fortunately, in Australia at least, that diagnosis has been ruled unsafe by our courts some years back, in a case involving a child with ME.

 

[Hubris]

It seems likely that these ideas and false statistics have influenced how mothers with children with ME are treated.

A few weeks ago I saw a comment by a doctor who said that having two children with ME is likely a sign of Munchausens By Proxy.

It reminds me of a psychiatrist who told me my illness had to be psychosomatic because "statistically it's much more likely for you to have somatization than to have a rare illness that 1 in 100,000 people have".

Maybe my illness is rare, maybe it isn't. Hard to know when doctors don't care to find out. I don't exactly have the resources to interview millions of people to find out...

But it's laughable to claim it would be more likely for my symptoms to be psychosomatic when you don't even have any proof that psychosomatic illness exists to begin with.

 

[Hoopoe]

It reminds me of a psychiatrist who told me my illness had to be psychosomatic because "statistically it's much more likely for you to have somatization than to have a rare illness that 1 in 100,000 people have".

I thought you're not supposed to use statistical averages to draw conclusions about individuals. And there are thousands of rare diseases. They're only rare individually.