Â鶹´«Ã½

From Adam Finn, Institute of Child Health, University of Bristol

Let there be no doubt about it. Fabricated or induced illness does exist (31 January, p 3). It is rare, but hundreds of professionals involved in the care of children have seen cases.

I have seen two. In one of them the mother was filmed attempting to suffocate the baby. It’s hard to get proof like that, but harder to disbelieve it when you get it.

No one thinks all or most or even more than a tiny minority of cot deaths are infanticides. Equally, virtually no one thinks that deliberate injury to infants by parents and carers never happens.

So before dismissing Meadow’s syndrome of fabricated or induced illness as not having “stood up to scrutiny”, let’s all wake up and remember that we have a duty not only to protect parents against wrongful conviction for crimes they did not commit but also to protect infants from harm.

Bristol, UK