Doctors have key role in preventing and detecting child neglect...( reatment. The Seminar concludes: ...),Health

The Seminar concludes: "Physician advocacy fits well with a vision of improved child health in the 21st century."

In an accompanying comment, Dr Harvey Marcovitch, paediatrician and associate editor, BMJ Journals, London, UK and Dr David Jones, Park Hospital for Children, Oxford, UK says: "It is essential that clinicians are enabled to work competently even within systems that will sometimes fail for vulnerable children and themselves."

They conclude: "Individual training and local support networks for people involved in child protection are essential, whether they are specialists in the field or simply those who might encounter an occasional case. Failure to set up and use such resources indicates professional weakness. No clinician can opt out of recognising and responding to abuse."

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Contact: Professor Howard Dubowitz
hdubowitz@peds.umaryland.edu
410-706-6144
Lancet
31-May-2007