FOR5011 - Advanced issues in non-accidental injury of children

Upon successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

1. Detect and characterise inflicted neural and ocular trauma in childhood;
2. Identify the key procedures and medico-legal issues of child death investigations;
3. Discuss factitious illnesses in childhood with particular reference to the medico-legal issues;
4. Apply analytical skills in the understanding of toxicology as it applies to a paediatric population, and appraise the toxic effects on children and adolescents of several commonly abused drugs (both legal and illicit);
5. Critique theories of causation, and interrogate current controversies and areas of uncertainty in the field of non-accidental injury of childhood;
6. Identify and interpret mechanisms of injury associated with abusive head trauma, spinal injury, and ocular injury, and the evidence base upon which the determination as to cause and timing of injury are made;
7. Articulate the difficulties inherent in medical evaluations of complex situations involving suspicions of child abuse, emphasising on the strengths and limitations of medical investigations, and the methods used to present complex medical information to others.