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Douglas A. Sargent, MD, JD

JAMA. 1985;254(6):803.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Children with injuries inflicted on them by their caretakers are difficult for physicians to treat because they arouse in us strong ambivalence. As we try to diagnose and treat them, we have to struggle with our own feelings, hardly able to believe that parents could savage their children yet bring them to us for repair. Often we fight down anger as we try to obtain a medical history and give the child-victim appropriate care. Planning the next step beyond crisis care is hampered by our lack of trust in the caretakers' ability to refrain from further violence. Unfortunately, we also lack confidence if the alternative to parental care is a child protection system with a reputation for ineffectuality.

Faced with daunting uncertainties and a violated child, most physicians welcome help from any quarter. Fortunately, help is now available from the American Medical Association (AMA) in the article entitled "Diagnostic and . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
Advisory Panel on Child Abuse and Neglect Council on Scientific Affairs American Medical Association Chicago

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