Medical Issues with Child Victims of Family Violence

Abstract

Trauma, either accidental or nonaccidental injury, is the single most common cause of death in children between 1 and 15 years of age (see Briggs, 1989). Each year, about 20 million injuries occur in children. The consequences of the permanent disability, both physical and emotional, are incalculable. Injuries caused by child abuse, either from intentional or unintentional violence against children, unfortunately constitute an increasing percentage of the trauma statistics. One’s concept of child abuse must include not only the well-described “battered child syndrome” but the many children who are the innocent victims of family violence arising from domestic quarrels, drugs, or alcohol intoxication. Each day, newspapers report cases of children shot to death accidentally in drug wars, the ultimate form of child abuse.