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

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.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Where does that quote come from?

 

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

 

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.

 

That be good ole' Michael Sharp.

 

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.

 

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

 

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.

 

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.