A mother is on trial for the death of her 9-month old child. The prosecutors cla

Question

A mother is on trial for the death of her 9-month old child. The prosecutors claim is that the child died as a result of shaken baby syndrome from being violently shaken. The defense asserts that the child’s head became stuck in the slats of her crib and she broke her neck after struggling to get free. The medical examiner testifies that the child died as the result of a compression of the spinal cord between the sixth and seventh cervical vertebrae. The superior articular processes of the sixth cervical vertebra and the inferior articular processes of the fifth cervical vertebra were fractured, and the processes on the right side were laterally displaced, causing the fifth vertebra to slide laterally across the sixth, damaging the spinal cord. On the basis of this evidence, discuss who you believe is telling the truth, and provide explanation for your claim.

Explanation / Answer

according to the history given above that the lsuperior and inferior articular processes of sixth and fifth cervical vertibrae are fractured and displaced laterally. these causes reduction in the space of vertibral canal. and as the spinal cord is travelling inside the vertebral canal so due to pressure exerted by the displaced vertebrae there is the compression to spinal cord running inside the vertebral canal which causes damage to it and thereby it relates to the conclusion i.e. child died as the result of a compression of the spinal cord between the sixth and seventh cervical vertebrae.

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