Abstract
It may be difficult to identify children who are victims of physical abuse. Many injuries are not pathognomonic, and the diagnosis may not be obvious (Kellogg et al., 2007). The history given by the caregiver may be misleading or incomplete, causing a delay or mistake in diagnosis. In addition, victims of abuse often are too young to provide a history. Although only a small percentage of injuries seen by health care professionals are the result of abuse, there are a number of historical and physical findings that should raise the suspicion of nonaccidental trauma.
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Appendix
Series 1: Series of photos showing bruising on a child’s thighs. Please take not of the various angles and different distance of the photos and the ruler placement.
Series 2: Child with horizontal bruise and overlying abrasion of left cheek. Notice the various angles and distance of the photos that enhance the description of the injuries.
Series 3: Suprapubic and penile bruising.
Series 4: Photo documentation of injury to left thigh. Notice the varying distances at which the photos were taken.
Series 5: Photo documentation of injured shoulders. Notice identification of body part along with ruler placement.
Series 6: Adolescent female with multiple bruise on the neck. Notice the different angles from which the photos are taken
Series 7: Photo documentation of locations of injuries with ruler
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Girardet, R.G., Giardino, A.P. (2010). Evaluation of Physical Abuse and Neglect. In: Giardino, A., Lyn, M., Giardino, E. (eds) A Practical Guide to the Evaluation of Child Physical Abuse and Neglect. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0702-8_2
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