Preventing misdiagnosis of epilepsy

term ''shaken baby syndrome''.In any other age group an unexplained encephalopathy and haemorrhage into the subarachnoid and subdural spaces would be labelled ''head injury'' and the same features with long bone and rib fractures would be labelled ''multiple injury''.In these circumstances it is the responsibility of the authorities, not the doctors, to investigate how the injuries occurred, and the separation of the therapeutic and investigative aspects of the condition may be advantageous to all.However, doctors must continue to do their duty to report suspected abuse and to perform carefully documented medical investigation in cases of suspected child abuse.