Teaching about child abuse with a mock trial.

摘要

Context and setting The diagnosis and management of child abuse is a recognised component of undergraduate medical training. The role of the doctor in the legal proceedings that may result from the diagnosis of child abuse is less consistently taught in medical school. We describe a novel approach used to introduce medical students to the medical and legal aspects of child abuse in the context of a first-year course focusing on musculoskeletal disease and trauma. Why the idea was necessary In 2008, the Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario (the 'Goudge Inquiry') examined the interface between medical expert witnesses and the courts in criminal court cases. One recommendation of the Inquiry says, in part: 'All individuals and institutions that provide or oversee the education of medical students in Ontario should focus on the critical importance of the criminal justice system in medico-legal education.'1 We therefore set up a mock trial to highlight the role and limitations of the expert medical witness, the controversies that exist in diagnosing child abuse and the need for expert witnesses to be objective.