While this specialty is needed, it is also a very sad statement about some humans in this country.
New specialty spurs hopes for helping abused kids
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2009/08/18/3163350-new-specialty-spurs-hopes-for-helping-abused-kids
Tue Aug 18, 2009
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2009/08/18/3163350-new-specialty-spurs-hopes-for-helping-abused-kids
New specialty spurs hopes for helping abused kids
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2009/08/18/3163350-new-specialty-spurs-hopes-for-helping-abused-kids
Tue Aug 18, 2009
It appeared to be a clear-cut case of child abuse: An infant hospitalized with bleeding in his brain, his father behind bars suspected of shaking the baby.
Only after the boy died without his father at his bedside did doctors realize the bleeding was brought on by a vitamin K deficiency — not abuse.
The field involves not only treating suspected abuse victims but coordinating with police and welfare workers and testifying in court hearings. It will reach a milestone in November, when about 200 doctors sit for a board examination offered for the first time by the American Board of Pediatrics in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Its recognition as a subspecialty also is expected to lead to a formal system of accreditation for some of the roughly 25 child abuse pediatrics fellowship programs across the country for which there is currently no formal oversight.
They note that general pediatricians will continue to handle most of the estimated 3.2 million cases of child abuse reported each year.
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2009/08/18/3163350-new-specialty-spurs-hopes-for-helping-abused-kids