Biomaterial Database

Understanding fatal child abuse. 1995

R A Hicks, and D C Gaughan

Department of Pediatrics, Wright State University School of Medicine, Dayton, OH, USA.

Medical, social service and coroner reports were reviewed for 14 cases of fatal child abuse and neglect identified at a children's hospital from 1988-1992. Twelve cases involved physical abuse and two neglect. The median age was 6.5 months (range 24 days to 3 years). Six families (43%) had prior protective service involvement; however, four of the referrals involved a sibling. Only two of 12 physical abuse victims had a history of a prior suspicious injury. Clinical and postmortem findings are presented. The cause of death in all physically abused patients was blunt impact head injury; one also had contributing intraabdominal injuries. Ten cases were ruled due to homicide; 12 have come to legal closure resulting in nine felony convictions. These findings emphasize the role of blunt impact brain injury in fatal child abuse cases. Two findings have significant implications for prevention: (a) the paucity of injuries recognized prior to the fatal event, and (b) among families known to child protection agencies the focus was not the fatally injured child.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007223	Infant	A child between 1 and 23 months of age.	Infants
D007231	Infant, Newborn	An infant during the first 28 days after birth.	Neonate,Newborns,Infants, Newborn,Neonates,Newborn,Newborn Infant,Newborn Infants
D008297	Male		Males
D010348	Patient Care Team	Care of patients by a multidisciplinary team usually organized under the leadership of a physician; each member of the team has specific responsibilities and the whole team contributes to the care of the patient.	Health Care Team,Interdisciplinary Health Team,Medical Care Team,Multidisciplinary Care Team,Multidisciplinary Health Team,Healthcare Team,Care Team, Health,Care Team, Medical,Care Team, Multidisciplinary,Care Team, Patient,Care Teams, Health,Care Teams, Patient,Health Care Teams,Health Team, Interdisciplinary,Health Team, Multidisciplinary,Healthcare Teams,Interdisciplinary Health Teams,Medical Care Teams,Multidisciplinary Care Teams,Multidisciplinary Health Teams,Patient Care Teams,Team, Health Care,Team, Healthcare,Team, Interdisciplinary Health,Team, Medical Care,Team, Multidisciplinary Care,Team, Multidisciplinary Health,Team, Patient Care,Teams, Interdisciplinary Health
D012017	Referral and Consultation	The practice of sending a patient to another program or practitioner for services or advice which the referring source is not prepared to provide.	Consultation,Gatekeepers, Health Service,Hospital Referral,Second Opinion,Consultation and Referral,Health Service Gatekeepers,Hospital Referrals,Referral,Referral, Hospital,Referrals, Hospital,Consultations,Gatekeeper, Health Service,Health Service Gatekeeper,Opinion, Second,Opinions, Second,Referrals,Second Opinions
D002423	Cause of Death	Factors which produce cessation of all vital bodily functions. They can be analyzed from an epidemiologic viewpoint.	Causes of Death,Death Cause,Death Causes
D002649	Child Abuse	Abuse of children in a family, institutional, or other setting. (APA, Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, 1994)	Abuse Experiences, Childhood,Child Neglect,Child Neglect Experiences,Child Neglect, Physical,Childhood Abuse Experiences,Childhood Neglect Experiences,Neglect Experience, Childhood,Neglect Experiences, Childhood,Physical Neglect, Childhood,Child Maltreatment,Child Mistreatment,Abuse Experience, Childhood,Abuse, Child,Child Neglect Experience,Childhood Abuse Experience,Childhood Neglect Experience,Childhood Physical Neglect,Childhood Physical Neglects,Experience, Child Neglect,Experience, Childhood Abuse,Experience, Childhood Neglect,Maltreatment, Child,Mistreatment, Child,Neglect Experience, Child,Neglect, Child,Neglect, Childhood Physical,Neglect, Physical Child,Physical Child Neglect,Physical Child Neglects
D002675	Child, Preschool	A child between the ages of 2 and 5.	Children, Preschool,Preschool Child,Preschool Children
D005191	Family Characteristics	Size and composition of the family.	Family Size,Couples,Family Demography,Family Life Surveys,Family Size, Average,Family Size, Completed,Family Size, Desired,Family Size, Expected,Family Size, Ideal,Family and Household,Generations,Head of Household,Households,One-Person Household,Average Family Size,Average Family Sizes,Completed Family Size,Completed Family Sizes,Demography, Family,Desired Family Size,Desired Family Sizes,Expected Family Size,Expected Family Sizes,Family Characteristic,Family Demographies,Family Life Survey,Family Sizes,Family Sizes, Ideal,Household,Household Head,Household Heads,Household and Family,Household, One-Person,Ideal Family Size,Ideal Family Sizes,One Person Household,One-Person Households,Survey, Family Life
D005260	Female		Females