DOCTORS RULE OUT
SPONTANEOUS HUMAN COMBUSTION THEORY
Doctors in India have ruled out ‘spontaneous human
combustion’ (SHC) after a baby boy apparently burst into flames for a fourth
time.Three-month-old
Rahul was admitted to an intensive care unit in Chennai, India, last week after
suddenly catching fire.
He
suffered ten burns of varying severity in the latest incident with no apparent
external source of ignition, leaving doctors stumped in their attempts to
uncover the root cause of his injuries.A series of tests has since rule out the
SHC theory and raised abuse concerns, the Times of Indiareports.The investigation into the boy’s
apparent condition included a chromosome test, gene analysis and skin biopsy.However,
no evidence was found to support the SHC claims, said Dr J Jagan Mohan, head of
the burns department at the hospital.
‘I
still stand by what I said, that there is no such thing as spontaneous human
combustion,’ he said. ‘The possibility of child abuse exists and needs to be
explored.’Before the tests, Dr Narayan Babu, head of paediatrics at the
hospital, said: ‘The parents have held that the child burned instantaneously
without any provocation.’His parents say they were forced to leave the village
where they lived after being accused of setting fire to the baby on purpose.‘We’re
not crazy to burn our own baby,’ Karnan Perumal, the baby’s father, told the
New York Times.‘Some people don’t believe us, and I am scared to return to my
village and am hoping for some government protection. There is also the fear
that our child could burn once again.’Dr Mohan had earlier dismissed SHC as ‘a
hoax theory’.‘A baby catching fire spontaneously is not possible,’ he said.
‘Alcoholics
have a very small percentage of alcohol secreted in their sweat but even that
wouldn’t generate a fire.’Child rights activists say the possibility of abuse
can only be investigated if it is reported to authorities by a doctor or one of
his parents.
Prof. John
Kurakar
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