I am dealing with a 5 year old child that has had a BKA due to traumatic amputation of right calcaneus and rupture of tendons and muscle posterior calf. This child was run over by a lawnmower as his father mowed the backyard. The child was allowed to help push the mower and slid under it when the mower slipped on the hill. I am certain that dad never intended injury but the complete lack of judgement on his part has now impacted the child with a disability for the rest of his life. Yes it was an accident, but certainly a preventable one. When addressing parents about safety issues with their young children, it behooves us to encourage them to think about how to avoid possible injury – in other words, think about the worst case scenario and then have the parent ask themselves if it is worth the risk should the worst case happen. Parents need to be defensive, look for possibilities of disaster and work hard to avoid exposing their children to them. It may not be intentional neglect, but it is certainly neglect.
Tags: Forensic Nursing, Forensic Nursing Chronicles, Forensic Nursing Theories, Child Neglect
Forensic Nursing Chronicles 