Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Science Careers Booklet

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 20 June 2003:
Vol. 300. no. 5627, p. 1858
DOI: 10.1126/science.300.5627.1858
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

News of the Week

GENETICS:
Crib Death Exoneration Could Usher In New Gene Tests

Quinn Eastman

CAMBRIDGE, U.K.--For years, prosecutors in the United Kingdom have applied an unwritten three-strikes-and-you're-out rule to mothers whose babies die in infancy: One unexplained death is tragic but innocent, two is suspicious, and three is murder. This credo, tested in many a court case, led the U.K.'s Crown Prosecution Service to try a pharmacist named Trupti Patel for murder. However, recent genetic studies that challenge the three-strikes rule were a decisive factor in a stunning acquittal. The outcome could lead to more extensive screening of babies for inherited disorders, as well as to genetic testing of mothers accused of killing their babies.

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Is there a relation between SIDS and long QT syndrome?.
J R Skinner (2005)
Arch. Dis. Child. 90, 445-449
   Full Text »    PDF »
The Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Gene: Does It Exist?.
S. H. Opdal and T. O. Rognum (2004)
Pediatrics 114, e506-e512
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)