Child Fatality Review

The multidisciplinary team approach to investigating the issues surrounding the protection of children should be a UN resolution. Irrespective of economic status, all nations should be encouraged to develop this approach. Having highly trained teams will better serve the community. Dr. Randell Alexander’s vision for the future and his continual contribution to the world medical and legal communities will always serve the protectors of this borderless crime. To my friend, keep up this vital work.

Child Fatality Review: An Interdisciplinary Guide and Photographic Reference is a must-have for all members of child fatality review teams, legislators, government, administrators of child-focused programs, as well as child advocates. This reference manual takes a broad look at the concept of fatality review, its history, current direction, and recommendations for future direction. Most importantly, the manual outlines the need for consistency nationally and internationally in programmatic aspects of child fatality review and in prevention activities.

To create a comprehensive and interdisciplinary guide to child death review is a testimony to the degree to which this endeavor has advanced in the 30 or so years since its inception. The guide is insightful and forward-looking and deals with the complexities of discussions surrounding cases of child death. The inclusion of specific cases makes the guide both readable and practical, and many of us who have served on fatality review boards will nod in agreement as we read cases that sound all too familiar. The guide is a valuable resource to seasoned as well as novice team members.

The cumulative body of work in this book is represented in the form of detailed documentation of all forms of child fatality, real case illustrations, and practical solutions to all forms of child deaths including child abuse. This book is an exceptional reference for anyone who cares about the health of children, in every society and at all levels, especially pediatricians in the international settings. It is a milestone in prevention of injury and child abuse in the west that should be transported to the international society. All health care workers around the world need access to this reference for teaching new professionals globally on how to manage cases of child fatalities.

This comprehensive guide to child fatality review successfully renders a complex topic easily accessible to the myriad professionals responsible for the review process. Bringing their collective experience to bear, leaders in the field provide case examples and photographs to illustrate basic concepts as well as difficult issues central to effective death review. A thoughtful discussion of the challenges inherent in launching effective prevention efforts reminds us of the ultimate goal of the process

Cases of child fatality are tragic both for society and for the family of the child. They need to be dealt with and investigated carefully and sympathetically by professionals. Child death review teams help to set the highest standards for this. This book goes a long way toward helping to promote and improve that standard in other countries with less experience.