Manifestations of the Battered-Child Syndrome

Between 1965 and 1972, 231 patients were admitted to St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia with the battered-child syndrome. The case records and reontgenograms of 217 patients were reviewed. About one-third of the patients repuired orthopaedic treatment. The purpose of this paper is to alert the orthopaedist to the existence and prevalence of the battered-child syndrome, to describe both the non-orthopaedic and the orthopaedic manifestations of this problem, and to delineate the orthopaedist's responsibility to the battered child and the child's family.