Doctors Decry Defense Theory in Au Pair Trial

Fifty doctors who treat victims of child abuse have denounced the medical evidence presented by defense experts at Louise Woodward’s murder trial as inaccurate and unscientific.

The theory used to defend the British au pair--that the baby she was convicted of killing died from an old injury that re-bled--”is a courtroom diagnosis, not a medical diagnosis,” said a letter signed by the pediatricians and intended for publication.

“Infants simply do not suffer massive head injury, show no significant symptoms for days, then suddenly collapse and die,” the letter said.

Prosecutors argued that Woodward violently shook 8-month-old Matthew Eappen in frustration and slammed him against a hard surface on Feb. 4, causing his death five days later. The defense contended the injury was suffered earlier.

One of the authors of the doctors’ letter said Wednesday that he and other colleagues believed that the defense’s “re-bleed” theory is unsupported.

“All of us just felt outraged that this type of medical testimony was being allowed to be passed off as truth,” said Dr. Robert M. Reece.

Judge Hiller Zobel reduced Woodward’s second-degree murder conviction to involuntary manslaughter Monday, then declared the 279 days she had spent in prison an adequate sentence and set her free. She cannot leave Massachusetts until an expected appeal by prosecutors is settled.

Meanwhile, White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry, commenting on the reduction of charges and sentence, said: “The president believes that the judge was in the best position to make those determinations.”

Woodward, 19, had been staying in a suite at the Hyatt Harborside Conference Hotel, an airport hotel where rooms start at $249 a night. But she and her family left the building by a back entrance Wednesday, accompanied by 10 guards. There was no indication if they were leaving for good.

The family boarded a ferry that carried them to the city’s financial district, where she was to meet with lawyers.