Are New Pediatric “Child Abuse Specialists” Causing an Increase in Medical Kidnappings?
Going to the Children’s Hospital? Bring Your Lawyer. New Pediatric Sub-specialty Appears to Correlate with Recent Epidemic of Medical Kidnappings. The rise in aggressive uses of CPS by doctors and hospitals in diagnosing "child abuse," extensively documented by MedicalKidnap.com, appears to parallel several new developments in the world of pediatric medicine. In 2010, the American Academy of Pediatrics certified a new sub-specialty in child abuse pediatrics, which requires a fellowship with a teaching hospital’s child protection unit and a separate board exam. The majority of the nation's 324 Child Abuse Pediatricians are housed within children's hospitals. This new subspecialty of pediatrics has generated questions regarding the investigatory or prosecutorial role assumed by child abuse pediatricians.