Doc found guilty in his child's death

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Apr 3, 1998, 3:00:00 AM4/3/98

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NEW YORK, April 3 (UPI) - A Queens, N.Y., doctor has been found
guilty (Friday) of manslaughter in the shaking death of his 5-month-old
baby. Malcolm Scoon could face up to 15 years in prison for shaking his
young daughter so hard that she suffered hemorrhaging in her brain, her
eyes and under her arms.

bc-us-shakenbaby
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(NOTE: changes slug from shakenbaby)

Doc found guilty in his child's death

NEW YORK, April 3 (UPI) - A Queens, N.Y., doctor has been found
guilty (Friday) of manslaughter in the shaking death of his 5-month-old
baby. Malcolm Scoon could face up to 15 years in prison for shaking his
young daughter so hard that she suffered hemorrhaging in her brain, her
eyes and under her arms.

bc-us-babymariah

UPI

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Apr 3, 1998, 3:00:00 AM4/3/98

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Doc found guilty in his child's death

NEW YORK, April 3 (UPI) - A Queens, N.Y., doctor has been found

guilty of manslaughter in the shaking death of his 5-month-old daughter.

Malcolm Scoon, a 38-year-old anesthesiologist, could face up to 15
years in prison for shaking his daughter Mariah so hard that she

suffered hemorrhaging in her brain, her eyes and under her arms.

Scoon sat stonefaced in Queens state Supreme Court today as the
jury's verdict was read. Outside the courtroom his attorney, Michael
Dowd, said, ``I am utterly dumbfounded.''

The doctor had maintained that the injuries Mariah sustained were the
result of his attempts to revive her when he found her gasping for
breath.

But the jury accepted prosecutors' arguments that bleeding around the
brain and eyes, and a hemmorhage under Mariah's right arm were classic
symptoms of ``Shaken Baby Syndrome.''

The syndrome occurs when a baby is throttled in a whiplash-like
manner so that its brain smashes against the skull.

The family's pediatrician testified that although Mariah was born
prematurely, she was in good health when she was released from the
hospital at the age of 2 months, and she was in good health just before
the February 1996 day when she was rushed to Long Island Jewish Hospital
with traumatic brain injuries.

Her case made headlines when Scoon and his wife pleaded for the girl
to be kept on life support, and Cardinal John O'Connor intervened to
have her transfered to St. Vincent's Medical Center. Mariah died several
weeks later.

Prosecutors said that as a doctor, Scoon knew the consequences of
shaking a baby, and suggested that there may have been more than one
incident, noting that the autopsy revealed old blood and newer blood
around the brain.
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