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Meryl Goldsmith teamed with her cousin Susan Goldsmith to make The Syndrome,
a documentary about the falsehoods surrounding “shaken baby syndrome.”

Dispelling Falsehoods

2016

Free Listing Submission Deadline:

May 9, 2016

Native Detroit cousins team on documentary
about shaken baby syndrome.

Ronelle Grier | Contributing Writer

S

haken baby syndrome, ” a concept
that has been used to prosecute
thousands of innocent people, is
a myth based on faulty science, accord-
ing to filmmakers Meryl and Susan
Goldsmith, cousins and native Detroiters
whose new documentary sets out to dis-
pel the falsehoods about this dangerous
theory.
The Syndrome by Los Angeles pro-
ducer Meryl Goldsmith, 33, and award-
winning investigative reporter Susan
Goldsmith, 55, documents the crusade
of a group of dedicated physicians, scien-
tists and legal scholars who have discov-
ered evidence that the child abuse theory
cited in hundreds of criminal prosecu-
tions every year does not exist. The film
will be shown here April 30 and May 1.
“We wanted to become the storytell-
ers for the people who were courageous
enough to take this on, ” said Susan, who
began researching the issue in 2008
after a court case was dismissed on the
grounds that the “shaken baby” concept
was faulty.
“I realized they were saying that
many different things could cause those
symptoms in a baby, ” said Susan, who
lives in Portland, Ore. “There was no
diagnostic gold standard. I began to put
it all together and it seemed really prob-
lematic.”
Susan researched and developed the
story and pitched it to the newspaper

where she worked at the time, The
Oregonian, but it was deemed too con-
troversial to publish.
“I was very much attached to the story
and wanted to stick with it, ” Susan said.
After she was laid off from her news-
paper job, Susan approached her cousin
Meryl, who was living in Los Angeles,
about the possibility of a documentary.
Meryl was immediately receptive to the
idea.
“It had all the elements to make a
story that could be told in a 90-minute
documentary format, ” Meryl said. “The
story became louder and louder to us,
and we thought this really needs to be
told.”
Meryl, who grew up in Bloomfield
Hills and attended Andover High
School, and Susan, who attended West
Bloomfield High School, are first cous-
ins and third-generation Wolverines.
Meryl’ s father, Stanley Goldsmith, and
Susan’ s father, Walter Goldsmith, are
brothers who live across the street from
one another in Bloomfield Hills. Stanley
served as the film’ s executive producer,
while Walter lent his services as an attor-
ney.
“I had produced documentaries on
electronic music, and I wanted to do
something to help people, to try to
change the world, ” Meryl said. “My
cousin was already doing that.”
While the two had never worked with

The Jewish News will
honor all Jewish students
who are graduating this
spring from Michigan
high schools in our
Cap & Gown Yearbook
2016. The Yearbook will
be published in our
May 26 issue.

Go online to submit
your free listings to:
www.thejewishnews.com/contact/cap-and-
gown/free-listing/

All cap and gown submission
MUST go through the website.
If you have any questions,

call Jackie Headapohl, Editor,
at (248) 351-5110.

continued on page 32

April 21 • 2016

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