[[Yurko Project Editor’s note: This article states, “Since Dr. Al-Bayati’s discovery of the toxicological causes of baby Yurko’s death, literally hundreds of health-care professionals have enrolled in the effort to free Alan Yurko, and are also exploring this previously overlooked source of both SBS and SIDS.”

To be fair, it must be said that hundreds of professionals have become “enrolled” over the years since Alan’s incarceration five years ago, and quite a few, like Dr. Al-Bayati, have devoted many hours to revealing various aspects of the case. Dr. Al-Bayati’s report does represent a major piece of the puzzle, is more than welcomed by all concerned, and is certain to inspire more such involvement.]]

John Adams, the second president of the United States, once observed that “facts are stubborn things,” a proposition with which Dixon resident Dr. Mohammed Al-Bayati, whose pioneering research of the toxicological roots of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has received international attention, is in agreement.

“When I’m researching something, I only want to discover the facts,” he noted. Dr. Al-Bayati’s dedication has led to his involvement with a Florida criminal case appeal, and to some startling discoveries about Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

In November of 1997, Alan Yurko, a two and a half month old baby, died just three days after being admitted to Princeton Hospital in Florida. His father, Alan R. Yurko, was subsequently arrested, tried, and convicted by a jury in 1999, sentenced to spend his life plus ten years in prison. During the course of the appeal process, which is still underway, Dr. Al-Bayati became involved, utilizing his toxicological and pathological expertise to examine the evidence upon which Yurko’s conviction was based, and what Al-Bayati discovered horrified him.

“They said they had examined the baby’s heart, but they didn’t, because it had already been harvested for donation; they did not review the child’s medical history, nor did they analyze the effects of the vaccines and medications that were in the baby’s system,” he observed.

“They sent an innocent man to jail,” he concluded. Dr. Al-Bayati is particularly sensitive to misuse of power. He fled Iraq not long after Saddam Hussein seized power, and several members of his family have been murdered by thugs of the regime in Baghdad.

Dr. Al-Bayati began his investigation by pursuing what he contends the medical examiner failed to do, determining the cause of death. His inquiries were based upon a scientific method known as differential diagnosis. This process, simply put, seeks to eliminate all other possible causes of a certain reaction, by taking all the available evidence and known facts and going through a process of elimination.

Dr. Al-Bayati determined that the baby’s death was vaccine-and-medication induced; the reaction of the child’s system to an overload of drugs and antibiotics. Of equal interest were the implications his discovery, the product of approximately 250 hours of research, has for other SBS or SIDS cases. “No one has looked at the toxicological effects that medications may have on a segment of the population, and many cases labeled SIDS or SBS are probably something else,” he said.

Citing the Yurko case as an example, Dr. Al-Bayati noted how the child had been given high doses of sodium bicarbonate and heparin, which cause cardiac arrest and internal bleeding, and produce symptoms similar to SBS. Dr. Al-Bayati was prompted to explore the toxicological avenue not only because that is his area of expertise, but also because the child did not develop SBS-like symptoms until after he was admitted to the hospital, and was thus separated from its parents.

Since Dr. Al-Bayati’s discovery of the toxicological causes of baby Yurko’s death, literally hundreds of health-care professionals have enrolled in the effort to free Alan Yurko, and are also exploring this previously overlooked source of both SBS and SIDS. Dr. Al-Bayati, in company with many other professionals, is also involved in an effort to have the laws governing the rules of evidence changed to make differential diagnosis the standard in all court proceedings. “It is a process of elimination which only deals with facts and can’t be manipulated,” he stated.

Dr. Al-Bayati’s crusade for justice and science has made national news, most recently with the publication of his report by Nicholas Regush of ABC News on the redflagsweekly.com website.

[[Editor's Note: Please note that Dr. Al-Bayati's report can now be read on our website.