VacTruth Writers: Defending Baby Murderers

It all started with this: 

[Text: I usually try to stay away from "TRIGGER WARNING" posts, but this has me pretty livid, and it's a perfect example of how despicable the hardcore anti-vax side can be. Content in comments.

***TRIGGER WARNING***

Compare the following two articles:

Lansing man charged with murder, 1st-degree child abuse in death of 3-month-old daughter

 Father Jailed For Life Without Parole After His 12 Week-Old Daughter Died After Receiving 8 Vaccinations!]

So of course, I had to read the two articles., and then dug deeper.

The short version:

A 19 year old unemployed woman leaves her baby with her mother and moves in with a 38 year old man who has a spotty employment record, and who has several drug-abuse convictions. About a year later, she gives birth to his daughter, her second child. Within months of her second daughter's birth, she leaves the baby's father and returns, with the infant, to her mother's home. However, she continues to see the father several times a week.

On one of those visits, she leaves the baby alone with the father. Ninety minutes later, the baby is at the hospital with severe head trauma consistent with multiple blows. The baby dies that night. The father is arrested, tried and convicted of murder and child abuse.

Sometime between December 5 2013, the end of the trial, and January 15 2014, the father's sentencing date, the website VacTruth, Christina England, and a retired Australian pathologist, Michael D. Innes, convinced the mother that her baby wasn't murdered by the father, but had some sort of underlying medical condition that caused the baby's skull fractures. The baby's receipt of the normal 2-month suite of vaccines is blamed for the baby's death. The mother announced at the father's sentencing hearing that she had "medical reports that conflict with trial testimony" and that she would continue to work to prove his innocence. 

The only evidence for "vitamin deficiency" contributing to blunt force head trauma is in the minds of Michael Innis and Christina England. 

Updated to add: I had forgotten I had reviewed Michael Innis's 2013 paper, Autoimmunity and Non-Accidental Injury in Children last year.  It is a very, very poor paper.

The screaming headline is 

"Father Jailed For Life Without Parole After His 12 Week-Old Daughter Died After Receiving 8 Vaccinations!" (note: all links are safe to click. I use donotlink.com)

It's an article by Christina England rife with untruths about the murder of Ja'Nayjah Sanders by her non-custodial father, John Sanders, at the notorious anti-vaccination site, VacTruth.

The facts about Ja’Nayjah's murder: she was a healthy baby who was beaten to death by her father. 

Timeline

• Sometime in 2011, John Sanders convicted of two marijuana and two cocaine offenses, and is put on parole. 
• Late 2011 or early 2012, John Sanders (age 37) and Shamarrie Kittle (age 19) move in together.  Kittle leaves her older daughter, Sha'Nyah, in the care of her mother. 
• Early 2012: Shamarrie Kittle becomes pregnant, and begins prenatal care when she is about 8 weeks pregnant. 
• Sometime in September, 2012, Ja'Nayjah Sanders is born, full term and healthy, according to the pathologist's report.  She is formula-fed. 
• Two days after birth, Ja'Nayjah is seen by a doctor and is found to have lost weight, but her mother, Shamarrie, declines further testing or medical care until her scheduled 2-month exam in October.
• Early October: Shamarrie notices that Ja'NayJah is "vomiting continuously" (according to the VacTruth article) but does not seek medical care. 
• October 12, 2012: Shamarrie takes Ja'Nayjah to a scheduled 2-month well-baby exam.  The physician seening Ja'Nayjah is not concerned about the vomiting, and may have recommended changing the nipple size or possibly the formula. Ja'Nayjah receives the six vaccines that are recommended for two-month olds: hepatitis B, rotavirus, the DTaP which protects against tetanus, diptheria and pertussis; Hib; the pneumococcal vaccine; and poliovirus. 
• Late December, 2012 Shamarrie Kittle and her daughter move out of John Sanders's apartment.  Kittle's February 5 2013 testimony stipulates it as "shortly before Christmas".
• December 2012-January 2013: Shamarrie Kittle continues to visit Sanders, "less than 10 times" over 20 or more days. 
• Thursday evening, January 3, 2013  Shamarrie Kittle returns to Sanders's apartment with Ja'Nayjah and spends the night. 
• Friday, January 4, 2013, approximately 8;00 am:  Shamarrie feeds leaves 12-week-old  Ja'Nayjah a bottle of formula, and leaves the infant with the sleeping John Sanders, while Kittle travlled by bus to the county health department to aquire baby formula. Ja'Nayjah is alone in the apartment with Sanders
• Friday January 4, 2013 9:34 am:  Sanders texts Kittle that " Ja'Nayjah stopped breathing". 
  
• Friday morning, January 4, 2013: Sanders does not call 911, but asks his uncle to drive him and the baby to McLaren Hospital in Lansing, Michigan. 
• Friday, January 4, 2013: Ja'Nayjah and her mother are transported to Sparrow Hospital.
• Friday, January 4, 2013: Around 12:45 pm, Lansing police summoned to the hospital to interview Shamarrie Kittle, because of the nature of the infant's injuries.
• Friday, January 4 2013: Ja'Nayjah Sanders pronounced dead at 10:25 p.m.
• Saturday, January 5, 2013:  Lansing police Detective Mark Lewandowsky interviews John Sanders. During the interview, Sanders reportedly confessed to hitting the baby. 
• Monday, January 7, 2013: Lansing police rule Ja'Nayjah's death a homicide;  her fahter, John Sanders, is arrested.
• January 2013: Police search Sanders's apartment and find crack cocaine.
• February 5, 2013: Shamarrie Kittle testifies in John Sanders's pre-trial hearing: Ja'Nayjah was behaving normally when she left the apartment about 8:00 am, and that she had fed the infant a bottle of formula before she left. "Kittle told the court Sanders, 37, always treated Ja'Nayjah appropriately and only grew frustrated when the infant would cry as he held her." The surgeon who operated on Ja'Nayjah testifies that  the brain injuries that killed her were so severe that the baby could not have consumed a bottle of milk after sustaining said injuries. 
• February 28, 2013: John Sanders is bound over for trial.
• December 2, 2013: The trial of John Sanders, on charges of  with murder and first degree child abuse, opens
• December 2, 2013:  County medical examiner Joyce deJong MD's testimony:  Ja’Nayjah had suffered injuries that “almost exclusively” are caused by inflicted trauma. She said the injuries were not accidental and that “significant force” had been used.
• December 3, 2013:  Stephen Guertin, who treated Ja’Nayjah at Sparrow and who is an expert in child abuse testimony:  He was certain that someone caused the injuries by striking the infant, hitting her against something, or a combination of both. “There is no doubt,” Guertin said, “there was violence inflicted on this baby.” He said there were multiple impact sites on her head. Describing autopsy photos to the jury, Guertin said: “You have to have an impact to get those... You have to hit the baby or the baby has to be hit against something.”
• December 5, 2013: John Harold Sanders found guilty of murder and child abuse.
• January 15, 2014: John Sanders sentenced to life in prison for murder.  At his sentencing hearing, Shamarrie Kittle said that "she has medical reports that conflict with trial testimony. She said she remains in regular contact with Sanders and promised to help show he is innocent."
• January 16, 2014 Christina England publishes  Father Jailed For Life Without Parole After His 12 Week-Old Daughter Died After Receiving 8 Vaccinations!, in which she reports on several conversations with Shamarrie Kittle.

Sources on the murder of Ja'Nayjah Lee Sanders:

• January 6, 2013, WILX.com News, Lansing Police Investigating Suspicious Death of Baby Girl
• January 7, 2013, Brandon Howell, MLive Lansing man charged with murder, 1st-degree child abuse in death of 3-month-old daughter
• January 10, 2013 Legacy.com Ja'NayJah Lee Sanders Obituary
• January 15, 2013, WLNS.com, Neighbors Break Silence On Baby’s Murder
• January 30, 2013 Brandon Howell, MLIve Preliminary hearing for Lansing man charged in infant daughter's death interrupted when prosecutor collapses
• January 31, 2013 Brandon Howell, MLIve Preliminary hearing adjourned to next week for Lansing man charged in infant daughter's death
• February 5, 2013 Brandon Howell, MLive Ex-girlfriend: Lansing man accused of killing 3-month-old daughter cared for infant, was 'a big sweetheart'
• February 28, 2013, Brandon Howell, MLive Lansing man ordered to stand trial on murder, child abuse charges in connection with death of 3-month-old daughter
• December 2, 2013, Kevin Gransha, Lansing State Journal Lansing infant's final hours detailed in father's murder trial
• December 3, 2013, Kevin Gransha, Lansing State Journal  Mom testifies about ex-boyfriend accused of killing their baby: 'I love him'
  
• December 5, 2013 Kevin Gransha, Lansing State Journal Lansing dad guilty in death of infant daughter Man convicted of murder, child abuse
• January 14, 2014 Kevin Gransha, Lansing State Journal Former girlfriend of Lansing man sentenced for killing their child says he is innocent.
• January 15, 2014  Jay Scott Smith, MLive Lansing man sentenced to life in prison in murder of 3-month-old daughter
• January 14, 2014 Christina England, VacTruth.org publishes  Father Jailed For Life Without Parole After His 12 Week-Old Daughter Died After Receiving 8 Vaccinations!, (note: the vaccinations were the routine suite of 2-months vaccinations and were administered 24 days before Ja'Nayjah's murder.)

Brief review of medical literature on traumatic head injury in infancy

• Niederkrotenthaler T, Xu L, Parks SE, Sugerman DE. Descriptive factors of abusive head trauma in young children--United States, 2000-2009. Child Abuse Negl. 2013 Jul;37(7):446-55. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.02.002. Epub 2013 Mar 25. 
• Claudet I, Gurrera E, Honorat R, Rekhroukh H, Casasoprana A, Grouteau E. [Home falls in infants before walking acquisition].[Article in French] Arch Pediatr. 2013 May;20(5):484-91. doi: 10.1016/j.arcped.2013.02.071. Epub 2013 Apr 4.
• Galarza M, Gazzeri R, Barceló C, Mantese B, Arráez C, Alfieri A, Cavazzana M, Gandini R, Porcar OP, Martínez-Lage JF. Accidental head trauma during care activities in the first year of life: a neurosurgical comparative study. Childs Nerv Syst. 2013 Jun;29(6):973-8. doi: 10.1007/s00381-013-2051-6. Epub 2013 Feb 22.
• Lopes NR, Eisenstein E, Williams LC. Abusive head trauma in children: a literature review. J Pediatr (Rio J). 2013 Sep-Oct;89(5):426-33. doi: 10.1016/j.jped.2013.01.011. Epub 2013 Jul 11.
• John SM, Kelly P, Vincent A. Patterns of structural head injury in children younger than 3 years: a ten-year review of 519 patients. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2013 Jan;74(1):276-81. doi: 10.1097/TA.0b013e318270d82e.

Skeptical sources on the anti-vaccination movement's effort to rebrand the effects of severe child abuse as "vaccine injury"

• No date,  Parrish R, Chadwick DL, National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome DTP Vaccination or SBS?: The Role of Irresponsible Medical Expert Testimony in Creating a False Causal Connection
• February 7 2012 Orac at Respectful Insolence The vilest antivaccine lie that won’t die: Shaken baby syndrome as “vaccine injury”
• October 5, 2012 Orac at Respectful Insolence Using the lie that shaken baby syndrome is a misdiagnosis for vaccine injury to try to exonerate another accused child abuser
• October 8, 2012 Orac at Respectful Insolence Using the lie that shaken baby syndrome is a misdiagnosis for vaccine injury to try to exonerate another accused child abuser (one last word)
• August 27, 2013 Orac at Respectful Insolence Here we go again: The vile tactic of blaming shaken baby syndrome on vaccines (Another example of Christina England defending child murderers) 
• September 4, 2013 Orac at Respectful Insolence Here we go again: The vile tactic of blaming shaken baby syndrome on vaccines, part 2

Comments

[MelodyRN]

The role that anti-vaxers play in trying to blame vaccines rather than the violent father is disgusting. Thank goodness they aren't involved in the legal process. However it's scary that they're sharing that horribly written blog in an attempt to mislead others from vaccinating.

[lilady]

It's horrific that anti-vaxers use the infants who die of SIDS, to claim the causes of their deaths are vaccines. When these anti-vaxers use the murder of an infant and support her murderer, it is an abomination.