Infant Dies After Craniosacral Therapy: Therapist Gets Off Scot-Free

We reported earlier about the sad case of a a formerly healthy, three-month-old girl, who died in the Netherlands after manipulation of the neck and the vertebral column, called “holding,” by a – certified! – craniosacral therapist. Here’s an update.

The case has been subject of investigation by the Netherlands Health Care Inspectorate and the Public Prosecutors Office. The Inspectorate decided not to press charges against the craniosacral therapist, after he promised never to apply this treatment again.

The Dutch Public Prosecutors Office is still investigating the case and may yet decide to prosecute.

In a documentary by Dutch television the practice, in which this “holding technique” is still being administered, denies the craniosacral treatment had anything to do with the baby’s death and suggests she died of SID “or something like that”. They claim the parents where very content with the treatment, whereas in reality they were rushed in an ambulance to the hospital with their child, in a state of utter panic.

Former head of the Dutch Health Care Inspectorate, Menso Westerouen van Meeteren, is shocked and disappointed by this outcome. He feels the Inspectorate should have pressed charges and in not doing so has failed the parents miserably, leaving them out in the cold after this terrible tragedy.

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