SIDS, Infanticide, and Munchhausen by Proxy Equal Deadly Consequences

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome had been occurring for hundreds of years but was not researched seriously until the 1960s. This SIDS syndrome takes the lives of infants, but it is also hides infanticide.

This article details that SIDS is sometimes a case of infanticide, and Munchhausen's by Proxy. These three conditions are often intertwined when they do intertwine disaster often results.

In 1972, Dr. Steinschneider published a research paper that stated SIDS ran in families; it became the cornerstone for SIDS. That paper and the research involved with it sent the entire research of this syndrome down the wrong path. For years, medical professionals believed it ran in families, which created many problems. It also hid countless infanticides.

In 1965, 3-month-old Eric died; he was the first-born son of Waneta and Tim Hoyt. A few years later in 1968, 1 ½ month old Julie, and 2 and a half year old James died within 2 weeks of each other. With three children from one family already victims to SIDS, a doctor studying the disorder took the next two Hoyt children as patients. 2 and a half-month-old Molly died in 1970 and was the first baby sent home on an apnea monitor. In 1971 fifth born child, Noah is also sent home with an apnea monitor but he would only live about 2 and a half months. Dr. Steinschneider, the doctor who was the primary doctor for Noah and Molly the last of the Hoyt's biological children.

It would take until 1986 when some one was reviewing old records became suspicious of five deaths in one family, which were attributed to SIDS. William Fitzpatrick, district attorney for Onondaga County in upstate New York opened the case into the family, and in 1995, it went to trail. The result was Waneta Hoyt received five life sentences for her crimes of infanticide that had gone unpunished for 23 years. Hoyt died in prison in 1998 from cancer, it is believed that she also suffered from Munchausen's by Proxy.

This trail shed new light on the 1972 report, which sent SIDS research down the wrong path. New research replaced the flawed research and uncovered the cruel truth that 5 to 10 percent of all SIDs cases are actually cases of infanticide according to a Newsweek article.

Newer research says that infants should be placed on their backs to prevent SIDS. Infants who do experience periods of non-breathing or sleep apnea are given apnea monitors that emit a loud beeping sound should they stop breathing. Molly Hoyt was the first to be sent home on one of these apnea monitors in 1970, and these monitors have saved countless babies since that time.

Resources:

centralny.ynn.com/content/all_news/114812/little-coffins---a-history-of-infanticide--part-two/

http://www.newsweek.com/1997/09/21/the-nursery-s-littlest-victims.html

http://law.jrank.org/pages/3680/Waneta-Hoyt-Trial-1995.html

http://SIDS-network.org/experts/syracuse2.htm

http://crime.about.com/od/serial/ig/serialkillerphotos/hoyt_w.htm

http://www.sciamdigital.com/index.cfm?fa=Products.ViewIssuePreview&ARTICLEID_CHAR=02CF0744-A6D3-41A0-92DC-45AF68860C5

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1946370/was_waneta_hoyt_a_serial_killer_or.html