Child Abuse: Brittle Bone Disease

The National Institutes of Health estimates between 20,000 and 50,000 people nationally suffer from osteogenesis imperfecta, which is more commonly known as & “brittle bone” disease.

Researchers estimate a baby with brittle bone disease is born every 15,000 to 20,000 births. About 90 percent of those are not hereditary cases, but caused by spontaneous genetic mutations.

The disease is one that typically gets diagnosed after unexplained fractures. Its severity varies wildly, even among members of an affected family. Doctors recognize four degrees of severity. In the most extreme cases, newborns with brittle bones can die during the ordinary trauma of childbirth. In the mildest cases, a few unexplained breaks at any point in life is the extent of it.

And often, said expert Dr. Cathleen Raggio, the breaks are first & “diagnosed” by police and social workers as child abuse.

The lawyers at Kirsch & Satawa have attended multiple trainings and workshops on unexplained fractures, bone disease, genetic bone disorders, and blunt force injury. We have successfully defended falsely accused parents in both the criminal and termination of parental rights arena - with the assistance of the top medical, scientific, and psychological experts in the country.

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