Physical Abuse in Children (Non-Accidental Injury Syndrome) Part 2: Confirming the diagnosis

Abstract

The implications of incorrect diagnosis of physical child abuse are enormous: either false positive or false negative diagnosis may result in irreparable damage to child, parent or both parties. It is vital that health and social workers do not fail to identify cases of physical child abuse, as an abused child has a 600/o chance of recurrence of abuse and up to a 10% risk of eventual fatal injury. On the other hand, incorrectly labeling the parent as an abuser can cause severe distress, adding severe anguish and even guilt to the already bereaved state of the loving parent who may have lost a child to accidental injury.