FOX Files: Rare Genetic Disorder Could Lead To Shaken Baby Syndrome Type Injuries

Some pediatricians might be making a mistake that could put innocent people in jail. It's rare, but some children have a genetic disorder that can lead to injuries that look exactly like 'shaken baby syndrome.' In the Fox Files, Chris Hayes reveals why some doctors have ignored important medical research. Trey Brockmeier was born with an extremely rare genetic disorder. His brain was slightly smaller than his skull -- meaning even a minor bump could rattle his head enough to cause brain damage.

But John & Cyndi Brockmeier didn't know that -- when at 15-months -- Trey fell.

Cyndi Brockmeier said, "he went limp and white and it was unlike anything that we'd ever seen."


He survived a hemorrhage. Doctor's put in a shunt to release the pressure.

John Brockmeier said, "The day after he had surgery is when DFS and the Arnold Detective showed up at the hospital and that's when things really moved into fast forward."

Three pediatricians told investigators it was "child abuse" -- "shaken infant syndrome."

Cyndi Brockmeier said, "I just crumbled. It just broke me to pieces."

The State took legal and physical custody of Trey. Investigators allowed Cyndi's mom to take him.

Cyndi Brockmeier said, "I couldn't spend the night at my parents house. I had to stay at a relatives. I couldn't be alone with him."

The Brockmeier's got Trey back after passing lie detector tests, but none of the experts backed down -- they said someone violently shook Trey -- it just must have been an "unknown perpetrator."

John and Cyndi never believed it, but they had to live with this for almost 15 years -- until Trey's pediatrician consulted Dr. James Shoemaker about a urine test.

They found something called 'glutaric acidemia.'

Dr. Shoemaker said, "It may only occur in one out of 10,000 or one out of 20,000 live births so a lot of physicians will go their entire careers without ever having seen a case." He added, "The normal activities of a toddler would cause enough shaking of the brain to cause bleeding that was seen in this case. So just normal falls."

Shoemaker teaches a class about it at Saint Louis University. And he says even a medical textbook -- is wrong.

Dr. Shoemaker told us, "[The text] suggested any time you see hemorrhages in an infant it has to be from child abuse. Unfortunately that is not the case."

So when Cyndi Brockmeier saw another woman on the news -- accused of shaking a baby to death -- she called the suspect's attorney.

Attorney Joel Schwartz "I'd like to think that I would have found out what was wrong with this child, but it's impossible to say."

Schwartz said his client gave a consistent story that the child hit his head while she was changing a diaper at her in-home daycare. The baby frothed at the mouth, the sitter called 911 and performed cpr.

Schwartz said, "She was interrogated for several hours, I believe it was 8-9 hours." He added, "They attempted to get her to say that the child was thrown to the floor."