Delayed sudden death in an infant following an accidental fall: a case report with review of the literature

Several controversies exist regarding ultimately lethal head injuries in small children. Death from short falls, timing of head injury, lucid intervals, presence of diffuse axonal injury (DAI), and subdural hematoma (SDH) as marker of DAI are the most recent controversial topics of debate in this evolving field of study. In this area of debate, we present a case of delayed death from a witnessed fall backwards off a bed in a 9-month-old black male child who struck his head on a concrete floor and was independently witnessed as "healthy" postfall for 72 hours until he was discovered dead in bed. Grandmother, babysitter, and mother all independently corroborated under police investigation that the child "acted and behaved normally" after the fall until death. Autopsy showed a linear nondisplaced parietal skull fracture, diastasis of adjacent occipital suture, subgaleal hemorrhage with evidence of aging, small posterior clotting SDH, marked cerebral edema, and a small tear of the midsuperior body of the corpus callosum consistent with focal axonal injury (FAI). No DAI was seen, and there were no retinal hemorrhages. All other causes of death were excluded upon thorough police and medical examiner investigation. Although this seems to be a rare phenomenon, a delayed, seemingly symptom-free interval can occur between a clinically apparent mild head injury and accidental death in a young child.     

What litigators need to know about HIPAA

HIPAA's Privacy Regulations impose a number of new requirements on Covered Entities concerning disclosure of an individual's personal health information. This Article briefly outlines the primary function of HIPAA's general nondisclosure rule and discusses the exceptions under which HIPAA permits disclosure in the course of litigation or government investigations.     

Empirical evidence on a special-interest-group perspective to antitrust

Public Choice - While the antitrust laws claim to serve the public interest, they are as susceptible to the influence of special-interest groups as are any public policies. This paper extends the...     

On `Home Grown-ness' in Politics: Evidence from the 1998 Election for Alabama's Third Congressional District

Faith and Tollison (1983) argue that since itis costly to `fire' a representative for poor performance,voters will rationally prefer local candidates withlongstanding ties to the district. Such candidates implicitlyput more specific human or other types of capital at risk as aKlein and Leffler (1981) type of performance bond than doother candidates with lesser ties to the district. Votersunderstand and appreciate the implied efficiency of castingtheir ballots in favor of someone who has a lot to loselocally from nonperformance as their representative. Usingprecinct-level data from the 1998 election for the thirdcongressional district in Alabama, we find compelling evidencein support of `home grown-ness' in politics.     

Community Development Block Grant Spending Revisited: Patterns of Benefit and Program Institutionalization

This article analyzes Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)spending by local governments between 1988–1992. We addressfour issues examining actual expenditure patterns in a smallcentral city and five satellite cities in Michigan: changesin CDBG expenditure patterns; levels of social targeting; theextent of institutionalization of expenditure patterns; andthe level of privatization of CDBG spending. We conclude thatwhile spending for housing and public works is related to thefiscal health of cities, expenditures for economic developmentand social services are related to political characteristics.Further, local governments exceed federal social targeting guidelines.Finally, while there is little privatization, the communitiesstudied evidence modest levels of program innovation in thelater years of the CDBG program.