Child Fatality Review

Randell Alexander is a professor of pediatrics at the University of Florida and the Morehouse School of Medicine. He currently serves as chief of the Division of Child Protection and Forensic Pediatrics and interim chief of the Division of Developmental Pediatrics at the University of Florida-Jacksonville. In addition, he is the statewide medical director of child protections teams for the Department of Health's Children's Medical Services and is part of the International Advisory Board for the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome. He has also served as vice chair of the US Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect, on the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect, and the boards of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) and Prevent Child Abuse America. Dr. Alexander has served on state child death review committees in Iowa, Georgia, and Florida, as well as on two regional child death review committees. He is an active researcher who lectures widely and testifies frequently in major child abuse cases throughout the country.

Mary Case is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia and the Saint Louis University School of Medicine. She completed her residency training in pathology at the Saint Louis University Health Sciences Center and is board certified in anatomical pathology, neuropathology, and forensic pathology. In addition to being a professor of pathology and codirector of the Division of Forensic Pathology at St. Louis University Health Sciences Center, Dr. Case serves as chief medical examiner for the cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and Jefferson and Franklin Counties. Her primary practice is forensic pathology, and her areas of special interest are childrens' injuries and head trauma.

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.

DS 282 Mark Clarke
Juvenile & Domestic Crime Unit
Bermuda Police Service
Prospect, Bermuda

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.

Eva Pattillo
Executive Director
Georgia Child Fatality Review Panel
Marietta, Georgia

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.

Carol Berkowitz, MD, FAAP
Executive Vice Chair
Department of Pediatrics
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
Professor of Clinical Pediatrics
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Torrance, California

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.

Maha Almuneef, MD, FAAP, CIC
Deputy Executive Director
Infection Prevention & Control
Executive Director
National Family Safety Program
Pediatric Infectious Diseases
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

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.

Jordan Greenbaum, MD
Medical Director
Child Protection Center
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia

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.

Inga Talvik, MD
Senior Consultant in Pediatric Neurology
Childrens Clinic of Tartu University Hospitals
Tartu, Estonia