THE BATTERED CHILD SYNDROME. RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PATHOLOGIST

A pathologist working in a medical examiner's or coroner's office dealing with the syndrome of the battered child is responsible for performing a complete external examination of the body with careful detailed description of all injuries, supplemented by roentgenograms of the entire skeleton, taken before the autopsy, to determine the existence of old or recent bone injury. The complete autopsy with microscopic studies must include the dissection and microscopic study of the osseous lesions.All findings possibly related to trauma are recorded in diagrams and photographs in color. The pathologist's findings and police reports dealing with the circumstances of the injuries and death must be evaluated with utmost care to determine whether inconsistencies exist in their statements as to the time and the nature of the events associated with the injuries. When confronted with the findings, suspects frequently confess.