Baby victim of shaken baby syndrome suffers from seizures

Doctors say the child allegedly suffering from shaken baby syndrome was admitted to East Tennessee Children's Hospital with non-accidental injuries.

That was the conclusion of Dr. Matt Hill, a critical-care physician at the Knoxville hospital.
Hill testified Wednesday in Blount County Circuit Court during the aggravated child abuse trial of Michael Lewis Mgrdichian, 29.

Mgrdichian is accused of shaking his daughter Hanna, then not quite 3, on March 30, 2003, while the family lived on Glendale Lane in Louisville.

On the second day of testimony two doctors were called to testify.

Mgrdichian lived at the time with his two daughters, Hanna and Olivia, who was almost 5, and his live-in girlfriend/fiancee Stephanie Brindisi and her daughter, Nina, 10.

Stephanie Brindisi testified that, after Mgrdichian picked her up from work in Knoxville then went to work at 3 p.m., Hanna ``kept telling me she was tired and wanted to sleep.'' Brindisi said this was unusual because Hanna ``is never tired. She's always on the go.''

She also said that later, about 7 or 7:30 p.m., Hanna began having seizures. ``Her eyes were rolling in her head. Her feet and hands were drawing in.''

Her father came home and 911 was called. An ambulance transported the baby to the hospital.
`Essentially a stroke'

Dr. Hill testified that after Hanna was admitted at 8 p.m. four medications had to be used before doctors were finally able to get the seizures stopped.

``She had essentially a stroke involving both sides of the brain,'' Hill said.

Dr. Mary Campbell, an emergency room pediatrician, and Hill both testified that Hanna had numerous retinal hemorrhages. ``You have to have a substantial amount of force to cause numerous hemorrhages,'' Campbell said.

``Hanna was the victim of significant closed head injury,'' she said. This is caused by shaking of her head or hitting of her head.

Defense counsel contends that Stephanie Brindisi picked up Hanna by her ankles and dropped the child on her head. Brindisi flatly denied this.

Both doctors said it is very unlikely that this could cause the extensive injuries Hanna sustained.
Hanna and the other two girls in the Mgrdichian home were placed in state custody March 30, 2003, and put in foster homes.

Hanna's foster mother testified Wednesday that when brought home from the hospital the little girl didn't move, had a feeding tube in her stomach, didn't walk or talk.

For six to eight months she never slept through the night without waking up screaming.
The feeding tube was removed in May 2004.

Still has seizures

Now she can walk with the help of Dofo braces on both feet and say simple sentences. She must wear a helmet because she still suffers from a minimum of four and up to 20 seizures a day. The helmet protects her head when she falls down.

She can't use her left arm or lift her left foot.

She can sit and play with a toy or watch a movie, but she has to have assistance with everyday living.

In other testimony, the former manager of the restaurant where Brindisi worked, Sherrie Eastridge, testified that a few days after the incident she was at the Mgrdichian home. He came out of the bedroom sat at the kitchen table and made a ``comment about not meaning to hurt her,'' Eastridge said.

The state rested its case at 3:45 p.m. Wednesday and the defense will continue calling witnesses at 9 a.m. today.