Physician unwitting participation in abuse and neglect of persons with developmental disabilities

The vast majority of birth parents and foster parents for children with special needs do the best they can in challenging circumstances. Many describe the frustrating circumstance of knowing more than their physicians about their child's unusual medical conditions. In general, physicians are well-advised to listen carefully to the reports of observant, caring parents and foster parents, and to give these observations at least as much weight as their own. However, in the work of our traveling clinic we have observed a number of situations of abuse and neglect which were perpetrated by parents or foster parents, and where the actual acts of abuse and/or neglect were wholly or in part endorsed, in writing, by the treating physician.