'The bones tell a story the child is too young or too frightened to tell': The Battered Child Syndrome in Post-war Britain and America. (15th April 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Crane, Jennifer
• Is Part Of: Social history of medicine. Volume 28:Number 4(2015:Nov.)
• Page Start: 767
• Page End: 788
• Publication Date: 2015-04-15
• Subjects: child abuse -- post-war -- radiology -- medical authority -- secrecy; Medicine -- History -- Periodicals; Social medicine -- History -- Periodicals; Medicine; Social medicine; History; Periodicals; Periodicals; 362.109
• DOI: 10.1093/shm/hkv040
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0951-631X

Abstract

Abstract : This article traces the emergence of child abuse as a medical concern in post-war Britain and America. In the early 1960s American paediatricians and radiologists defined the 'battered child syndrome' to characterise infants subjected to serious physical abuse. In the British context, paediatricians and radiologists, but also dermatologists and ophthalmologists, drew upon this work and sought to identify clear diagnostic signs of child maltreatment. For a time, the x-ray seemed to provide a reliable and objective visualisation of child maltreatment. By 1970, however, medical professionals began to invite social workers and policy makers to aid them in the diagnosis and management of child abuse. Discourse around the 'battered child syndrome', specifically, faded away, whilst concerns around child abuse grew. The battered child syndrome was a brief phenomenon of the 1960s, examination of which can inform the histories of medical authority, radiology and secrecy and privacy in the post-war period.