Mixed Forensic Workshop - Part 2: Answers

Kim Collins^1
1Newberry Pathology Group

Pediatric Neglect is defined as the failure of a caregiver to adequately provide safety, food, clothing, shelter, education, protection, medical/dental care, and supervision for a child in his/her care.  Often the child is under the age of 1 year and has been deprived of food and/or drink for some time, making malnutrition/starvation and dehydration the most common form of lethal pediatric neglect.  In other cases, the child is an older, more independently mobile child who has not been adequately supervised.  These children may or may not have a demonstrable prior history of maltreatment or (nonfatal) neglect, and review of medical records is an important part of the investigation.  And of course, there are gray areas in which experts and the public will continue to disagree.