A team of professionals from the Emergency Department of the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, has conducted a study based on data from thirteen Spanish hospitals that have treated urgently to minors with suspicion of having been victims of abuse.
'One of the four of these children does not return to the family home, either because he is transferred to a reception center, he must be admitted to the center - in some cases in the intensive care unit - or because he has died as a result of The severity of the aggression.
The work indicates that professionals have difficulty diagnosing these cases, because they can be confused with injuries, injuries and accidental burns, and also represent only a 'small part' of those that occur in total
The hospitals from which the data came, attended a total of 516,092 children between September 2011 and the same month of 2012; of them, 451 had been victims of possible abuse (37 percent due to sexual abuse, a percentage equal to physical abuse, 20% were victims of negligent behavior, and 4.5% with potential emotional abuse). The data were entered in the registry that the Spanish Society of Pediatric Emergencies has created to know the reality of child abuse.
The study authors conclude that child abuse they are more frequent in preschool ages since more than half of the children treated for this cause were under 6 years old, and that sex and age vary according to the type of abuse. Physical maltreatment is more common in boys and sexual abuse in girls, and more frequent neglect in early childhood
In the care of these abused children who must be taken to an emergency department, the hospital Sant Joan de Déu, has a specific unit of child abuse, from which medical and psychological treatment is offered.
I would dare to point out that these cases that hospitals attend, act as the tip of iceberg, since child abuse is a situation that remains hidden between the walls of the home. And as long as it is normal for a father or mother to beat the child, or while we hear without questioning anyone (whether father or not) that 'slap in time is necessary', the possibilities of change will be scarce.
Of course, not all cases are of the same severity, but isn't it true that an adult is much stronger than a child? Isn't it true that this force can be uncontrollable despite the intention?
