Exposing SIDS
Tom Hargrove and Lee Bowman of the Scripps Howard News Service have done a superb job in showing that reported declines in cases of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in fact are the result of flawed data collection and medical analyses that hinder researchers and may put more children at risk. Their special report, "Saving Babies: Exposing Sudden Infant Death in America," reveals:
…. the quality of infant death investigations, the level of training for coroners, and the amount of oversight and review vary enormously across the country. In many cases, professional bias -- both for and against a diagnosis of SIDS -- trumps medical evidence. The sloppy investigations and muddled records come with a very high price: the deaths of more babies who might have been saved through medical research.
For the highly instructive story behind this special report, see Al Tompkins' interview with Tom Hargrove at http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=2&aid=131126
http://scrippsnews.s10113.gridserver.com/