This chapter reviews how shaken baby syndrome cases are handled in France. Since 2011, national health guidelines published by the Haute Autorité de Santé (HAS) prompt all healthcare professionals to report to the police all infants with components of the ‘triad’, including subdural haematoma and retinal haemorrhage. The scientific foundations behind these guidelines have been extensively criticised, and their repeal has been requested in front of the French administrative Supreme Court (Conseil d’État). Hundreds of families claiming to be victims of wrongful allegations of child abuse due to medical errors have gathered in an association, Adikia, the largest organization of this kind in the world. Declarative statistics obtained by this association yield interesting insight into wrongful medical determinations of SBS, including the issue of false confessions that is pervasive despite the absence of a formal plea bargaining process in the French criminal justice system.

Medical guidelines addressing sexual intercourse during pregnancy are lacking. However, patients can find an abundance of information on the web. In short, sex during normal pregnancy is permitted. The most common reasons for abstaining from sex in pregnancy are placental problems, ruptured membranes, and pregnancies in which there is a high likelihood of premature labor. Orgasms are safe, as are oral and anal sex, as long as intercourse is not forbidden and different sexual positions are acceptable but it is preferable not to lie on the back.