Sudden Unexpected Infant Death

Since the early 1900’s a great deal of research has been done to help determine many causes of infant deaths. Nevertheless, until recently, when a conclusive determination of the cause of death could not be made, medical examiners often listed it as ‘pneumonia’; unfortunately, this led to the mistaken belief that infections were virtually the only cause of these unexplainable deaths.

Now, further advances in medical research as well as new developments in pediatric pathology have shown that it is not always possible to conclusively determine the sudden death of an otherwise healthy baby. Once pathologists have tested for and ruled out all possible medically known causes, they now list the cause of death as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).