British Study Confirms that Multiple SIDS Deaths Not So Unusual

This site frequently mentions cases where parents or others kill children and escape with ridiculously lenient sentences. But there is another sort of injustice, and that is where overzealous officials use pseudoscientific nonsense to create a hysteria that convicts people of crimes that they did not commit.

Such a wave of hysteria hit the United Kingdom in the late 1990s when a number of women were convicted of multiple homicides in deaths that the defense claimed were due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Rather than just relying on the physical evidence of autopsies, etc., prosecutors also pulled in alleged experts like Dr. Roy Meadow who testified that the odds of a couple having more than one child die from SIDS was astronomically low.

For example, Sally Clark was convicted of murdering her 11-week old son Christopher in 1996 and her eight-week old son Harry in 1998. Clark’s defense was that the children died from SIDS. But Meadow testified at her trial that the odds of the two boys dying from SIDS was “one in 73 million.” Meadow provided similar testimony at the murder trials of other women who had more than one child death.

But Meadow’s claim was pure speculation backed up by no evidence. As the Royal Statistical Society noted in a press release it issued about Meadow’s claim,

In the recent highly-publicised case of R v. Sally Clark, a medical expert witness drew on published studies to obtain a figure for the frequency of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS, or “cot death”) in families having some of the characteristics of the defendant’s family. He went on to square this figure to obtain a value of 1 in 73 million for the frequency of two cases of SIDS in such a family.

“This approach is, in general, statistically invalid. It would only be valid if SIDS cases arose independently within families, an assumption that would need to be justified empirically. Not only was no such empirical justification provided in the case, but there are very strong a priori reasons for supposing that the assumption will be false. There may well be unknown genetic or environmental factors that predispose families to SIDS, so that a second case within the family becomes much more likely.

The well-publicised figure of 1 in 73 million thus has no statistical basis. Its use cannot reasonably be justified as a “ballpark” figure because the error involved is likely to be very large, and in one particular direction. The true frequency of families with two cases of SIDS may be very much less incriminating than the figure presented to the jury at trial.

“Aside from its invalidity, figures such as the 1 in 73 million are very easily misinterpreted. Some press reports at the time stated that this was the chance that the deaths of Sally Clark’s two children were accidental. This (mis-)interpretation is a serious error of logic known as the Prosecutor’s Fallacy. The jury needs to weigh up two competing explanations for the babies’ deaths: SIDS or murder. Two deaths by SIDS or two murders are each quite unlikely, but one has apparently happened in this case. What matters is the relative likelihood of the deaths under each explanation, not just how unlikely they are under one explanation (in this case SIDS, according to the evidence as presented).

It turned out that the odds were actually closer to 1 in 100.

In fact, in December the results of the largest study of second-infant deaths was published and found that a) second-infant deaths are not that rare, and b) in 80 percent of cases, second-infant deaths were due to natural causes rather than homicide.

Published in the Lancet, research by Professor Robert Carpenter, studied all 6,373 families who had lost an infant due to SIDS and the enrolled in a program designed to support them with their next child.

Of those 6,373 families, Carpenter’s research found that 57 of the second-infants died. It found that nine deaths were inevitable, including infants born with severe birth defects, and 48 were unexpected deaths.

After interviewing the families and checking autopsy records, 40 of the unexpected deaths were due to natural causes, while 6 were due to probably homicides.

Carpenter was quoted by the Scotsman as saying,

Our data suggest that second deaths are not rare and that the majority — 80-90 percent — are natural. Families who have experienced three unexpected deaths also occur.

. . .

Consequently, although child abuse is not uncommon, from the best available data we believe that the occurrence of a second or third sudden unexpected death in infancy within a family, although relatively rare, is in most cases from natural causes.

Some of the women convicted based, in part, on the testimony of Meadows have had their convictions overturned, but prosecutors bizarrely say they still have faith in Meadows’ testimony. Sound science is clearly not on their agenda.

Sources:

Royal Statistical Society concerned by issues raised in Sally Clark case. Press Release, Royal Statistical Society, October 23, 2001.

Baby-death study finds natural causes evidence. Lyndsay Moss, The Scotsman, December 31 ,2004.

Profile: Sir Roy Meadow. The BBC, April 11, 2005.

Doubt cast on baby killer case. The BBC, July 15, 2001.

Share

Relatively Large Numbers of Single British Women and Men Don’t Want to Get Married

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, a survey of British singles by Mintel found that 56 percent of single women and 46 percent of single men describe themselves as “very happy.” Meanwhile, 19 percent of men and 28 percent of women said they had no interest in marriage or living with someone else.

The survey polled 1,039 singles ages 25-70. Overwhelmingly, both men and women said the biggest advantage of being single was economic and personal freedom in not having to share decision making with a partner. Seventy-one percent of men and 69 percent of women ranked “making own decisions about how to spend money” as the best thing about being single and 66 percent of men and 65 percent of women ranked “Freedom to come and go as I please” as the second most important thing about being single.

Men and women differed, however, on the disadvantages with 27 percent of men citing “not enough sex” as the biggest drawback of being single, while 36 percent of men cited “people assuming I want a partner” as the biggest drawback.

Sources:

British women are ‘happy singles’. The BBC, February 14, 2005.

Marketing to Singles – Charts. Press Release, Mintel, February 2005.

Share

British Prison Service Settles Complaint with Lesbian Guards

Great Britain’s Prison Service reached a settlement with nine lesbian prison guards who had accused the Prison Service of sexual discrimination.

Back in March 2002, the nine prison guards were transferred out of Holloway Prison after a five-month investigation claimed they were part of an organized group that was sexually harassing female staff at the prison.

At the time, the women were accused of harassing heterosexual female staff and trying to pressure them to become lesbians. Martin Narey, then director general of the Prison Service, said at the time,

The findings of the investigation report into bullying and intimidation of staff at Holloway have deeply concerned me. The findings reveal that sexual harassment, bullying and intimidation of staff have taken place, and have not, until now, been properly challenged. Behavior of this kind will not be tolerated in the prison service. Management should be tough. It should be robust. But it should never be intimidating. Bullying and sexual harassment are totally unacceptable. These staff who have been there some time effectively established themselves as an alternative management structure. They turned Holloway into an unhealthy place in which to be going to work.

Former Holloway staff member Terry White went further, telling The Observer,

They wanted the challenge of turning straight women. They would target the best looking and most feminine of the new recruits, especially the young ones from outside London.

The women responded with a complaint calling the allegations unfounded. In January, the Prison Service reached a settlement that explicitly stated the sexual harassment claims were in fact unfounded. The Prison Service also agreed to a six-figure settlement with the nine women and allowed them to apply for jobs at Holloway Prison in the future.

Sources:

Damages for lesbian prison guards. The BBC, January 28, 2005.

Lesbian Prison Officers Disciplined. The Observer, March 18, 2002.

Lesbian prison officers claim sexual discrimination. Dan Thomas, Personnel Today, January 13, 2005.

Share

Affairs Major Reason for Divorce in UK, Where Women Initiate Almost all Divorces

In January, the BBC reported on a UK survey of divorce lawyers that asked the lawyers to provide statistics on the causes of the divorces they handled.

According to the survey, adultery was the number one cause of divorce in Great Britain, with 27 percent of divorces being initiated because one of the partners had an affair. In 75 percent of those cases, the adulterous spouse was the husband.

After adultery, 11 percent of marriages ended due to family-related strains, and 17 percent from emotional or physical abuse.

The study also reported that women were overwhelmingly the initiators of divorces, petitioning for divorce in 93 percent of the cases handled by the lawyers in the survey.

Source:

Affairs ‘main reason for divorce’ The BBC, January 23, 2005.

Share

Will Fertility Tourism Increase as the UK Adopts New Fertility Treatment Regulations?

An article in The Scotsman suggests that new regulations the United Kingdom is imposing on fertility treatments there are likely to force couples to travel abroad for fertility treatments, which would have the unintended consequences of diminishing the availability of fertility treatments for less wealthy women and couples.

Beginning in April 2005, fertility clinics are required to permanently retain the identity of all sperm and egg donors. When the children produced from donated eggs and sperm reach 18, they will legally be able to force fertility clinics to divulge the identity of the egg or sperm donor.

The likely result, not surprisingly, will be a severe downturn in donors. Already, according to The Scotsman, many clinics are “reporting severe shortages of donors” ahead of implementation of the regulations. Dr. Gillian Lockwood, medical director at Midland Fertility Services, tells the newspaper,

The waiting list for donor eggs has gone in my clinic from about six months to 18 months to two years. If you’re 39 and you know that your only chance of having a baby is by using donor eggs, what are you going to do? Wait two years or go to Spain?

Spain, which protects donor anonymity, is likely to be one of a number of popular destinations for “fertility tourism,” where women can travel and obtain treatment quickly and then return to the UK. In essence, if these fears pan out, there will still be donor anonymity, it will just be very expensive for patients.

Something similar happened in Sweden which abandoned donor anonymity in 1985. Many Swedish couples simply travel to Denmark as sperm and egg donors fell after the end of anonymity. The trend is driven, in party, by the parent(s)-to-be’s preference that the sperm or egg donor remain permanently anonymous. In recent years, more Swedish women have conceived through artificial insemination carried out in Denmark than in Sweden.

Source:

Couples turn to ‘fertility tourism’ as crisis hits IVF. Rhiannon Edward, The Scotsman, December 31, 2004.

Sperm donors ‘want to keep anonymity’. Matthew Hill, The BBC, October 15, 2002.

Share

UK Fathers Rights Group Disrupts Church of England Service

A UK group calling itself Fathers 4 Justice disrupted a service of the Church of England’s General Synod in order to protest alleged inaction by the church to do more to protect the rights of divorced fathers to see their children.

According to the BBC, the protestors didn’t exactly receive a warm welcome,

Fathers 4 Justice leader Matt O’Connor was earlier rugby tackled and dragged out of the service by church members.

As he picked himself up he shouted: “Remember, half a million children are deprived of contact with their fathers and the church does nothing. Shame on you.”

Twelve protesters were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and assault.

This is the same group that in May threw condoms filled with purple flower at Tony Blair while he was speaking in the House of Commons (so much for new anti-terrorist security measures in the UK!)

Maybe this sort of stuff plays differently in Great Britain — where animal rights activists and other extremists are allowed to commit gross acts of harassment and violence with little fear of significant punishment — but these sort of extremist tactics suggest that there may be good reasons these folks don’t see their children very often. They certainly do themselves and their cause no favors with such assaults.

Sources:

Fathers’ cathedral protest ends. The BBC, July 12, 2004.

Blair hit during Commons protest. The BBC, May 19, 2004.

Share

Mayor of London Praises Muslim Cleric Who Defends Domestic Violence

The Scotsman reports that feminist and gay activists in Great Britain protested the arrival of Muslim cleric Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Al-Qaradawi is an extremist who has praised suicide bombers, defended domestic violence, and views homosexuality as something that needs to be punished by law. Of course, this being Europe, he was welcomed with open arms by London Mayor Ken Livingstone who describe criticism of Al-Qaradawi as anti-Muslim “hysteria.”

For example, here’s al-Qaradawi on how far a husband may go in punishing his wife,

It is permissible for him to beat her lightly with his hands, avoiding her face and other sensitive parts. In no case should he resort to using a stick or any other instrument that might cause pain and injury.

Peter Tatchell, leader of UK gay rights group Outrage!,

Ken Livingstone would not give a platform to the BNP. Dr. al-Qaradawi is even more extreme. He is an apologist for violence against women, Jews and gay people. We urge the Mayor of London not to host this misogynist, anti-Semitic homophobe.

Instead, Livingstone apologized to al-Qaradawi for the criticism he had to endure and invited him to return to London later this year.

Source:

Now cleric faces protests from gay group and feminists. John-Paul Ford Rojas and Neville Dean, Press Association, July 12, 2004.

Controversial preacher with ‘star status’. Magdi Abdelhadi, The BBC, July 7, 2004.

Livingstone invites cleric back. The BBC, July 12, 2004.

Share

Attendant at The National Gallery Stops Woman from Breastfeeding

Earlier this month it was a Texas mall that was in trouble after a guard asked a woman to take her infant into the bathroom if she wanted to breastfeed. A few days later, however, Great Britain’s The National Gallery was hit with a similar controversy after an attendant asked a woman breastfeeding her 11-month-old daughter to move to what the BBC describes as a “mother-and-baby room” if she wanted to continue breastfeeding her daughter.

Of course, as pro-breast feeding advocates were quick to point out, this was a bit odd considering that many of the paintings in The National Gallery depict infants breastfeeding. The woman asked to leave, Catherine Gulati, was quoted by the BBC as noting that,

I thought it was ironic because in another room there was a picture of a bare breast with milk squirting out of it called the Milky Way.

As in the Texas mall incident, The National Gallery blamed the incident on an overzealous attendant and said that breastfeeding is allowed anywhere in the gallery.

Source:

Gallery regrets breastfeeding ban. The BBC, July 9, 2004.

Share

Blair Suggests Re-Examining Abortion in UK

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair recently made comments that it might be time to look at further reducing the number of weeks at which abortion is allowed in the UK.

Compared to the United States, the UK has rather restrictive abortion laws. Abortion is only allowed until the 24th week unless there is evidence that the fetus will suffer from severe disabilities. Even then, a woman has to have two doctors sign off approval for the abortion procedure.

Apparently a new ultrasound technique resulted in video of a 12-week old fetus moving in the womb. According to the BBC, in response to that Blair said,

I have not had an opportunity myself to study in detail that evidence that has been provided. But I am sure that if the situation does change then it would be advisable for us to have another look at the whole question. If the scientific evidence has shifted then it is obviously sensible for us to take that into account. If we have proposals to put before the House we will put them.

Lord Steel, who was primarily responsible for the 1967 Act that legalized abortion in the UK, is currently pushing to have the 24-week limit reduced to 22 weeks and to remove the requirement that women have two doctors sing off on the abortion.

Source:

Blair hints at abortion rethink. The BBC, July 7, 2004.

Share

British Study: Men Who Never Marry Happiest

In December the University of London released a study of 4,000 Britons that found women who married the first man they had a relationship with were the most emotionally healthy women, while men who had multiple cohabitating relationships without getting married were the most emotionally healthy men.

The study claimed that following the breakup of a relationship, men tended to suffer a brief period of depression which waned as they became involved in a succeeding relationship. For women, however, there were longer term effects and the women with the most breakups also had the poorest emotional health.

If true, then the UK is an ideal place to become an emotionally healthy man as the marriage rate there is at its lowest level in more than a century.

Source:

Men happiest as ‘serial monogamists’, says study. Maxine Frith, The New Zealand Herald, February 23, 2004.

Share