‘Shaken Baby Syndrome’ Gains Doctors’ Attention : Pediatrics: With a tiny baby, the brain is loosely attached and it hemorrhages when it slams against the skull. A multitude of problems can arise, including death.

Micah Radcliffe, healthy at birth, was fighting for his life at 3 1/2 months after a brain injury his mother said happened when a baby-sitter shook the infant for fussing and refusing to eat.

“We thought he was going to die,” said Kristina Radcliffe, sitting with the doctors who saved him.

Today, Micah is beating the odds. Although he hasn’t fully recovered and now suffers from cerebral palsy, his progress is surprising his doctors.

Although some people don’t realize the dangers of shaking small children, the threats to infants of “shaken baby syndrome” are gaining recognition in the medical community.

The sitter, meanwhile, faces a charge of aggravated child abuse, a felony that carries a prison term of up to 15 years.

“I’m blessed. How far Micah has come,” said Radcliffe. “I didn’t know whether I could keep him, whether I could be the mother he needed. But I knew in my heart it was what I had to do.”

He was lethargic, ashen and convulsing when she rushed him to the emergency room at St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital last March. His eyes were protruding, then rolling back. She gently patted his face to keep him awake.

Dr. John Santamaria, head of pediatric emergency services, and Dr. Daniel Plasencia, director of pediatric intensive care, took care of Micah for the next six weeks.

“Many babies with head injuries who end up in ICU die in the first 24 hours,” said Plasencia.

“We see children who do not do as well as Micah, or die in front of you,” added Santamaria.

They operated for a brain clot, kept Micah on a respirator and in intensive care nearly three weeks. At 5 months, he went home.

He was blind and deaf.

“I was a single mom with no family. It was devastating. Micah had three surgeries, a shunt from head to belly. He was just an infant and going through all these horrible things,” said Radcliffe, 22.

Now, at 11 months, Micah’s hearing has returned and he can see. At times he wears a patch over his right eye to strengthen it. It crosses in and eventually may require surgery.

The cerebral palsy has robbed him of his strength on one side. Doctors say it probably will be a year before they know the severity of the damage.

Plasencia had not seen Micah in some time. He hugged the smiling baby and tears welled in the doctor’s eyes. “We usually don’t get a chance to see the results of what we do,” he told the mother.

“A child can fall three floors and not get as seriously injured as a shaken baby,” said Debra LaFlam, the hospital’s child advocate.

With a tiny baby, the brain is loosely attached. It hemorrhages when it slams against the skull. Neck muscles aren’t developed, so when a baby is shaken the head flops back and forth.

To illustrate, Plasencia compared it to the force of a ball rolling around in a box--banging from one side to the other.

“You can have signs of injury with just one shake,” said Santamaria. “I don’t think people realize what kind of damage can be done. And there is a lifetime of tragic consequences to deal with.

“We would like to be put out of business,” he added.

Last month, the American Academy of Pediatrics, an organization of 45,000 pediatricians, published a statement about shaken baby syndrome.

“There is an extraordinarily high incidence of morbidity and mortality among infant victims of shaking,” it said. “In one series . . . 60% died or had profound mental retardation, spastic quadriplegia or severe motor dysfunction.” When these severely injured children survive, they may be blind or develop brain damage, the academy said.

Radcliffe lost her job during the ordeal. Her life began to revolve around doctors and therapy. “For a long time I felt like I was going crazy and not able to share my frustrations with anyone else,” she said.

She blames herself for her son’s injury, saying she didn’t have the money to hire a sitter and relied on a friend she knew through church.

The sitter, John Mark Mitchell, 27, has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors accuse him of aggravated battery by forcibly shaking Micah.