ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on investigations of alleged child abuse and other mistreatment which are undertaken by healthcare professionals (HCPs) of all descriptions. The child is perhaps best described as a 'limited patient' he has been examined/interviewed by HCPs who have been engaged to do so by health authorities or local authorities, pursuant to a statutory framework for child protection. Traditionally, for the wrongfully-accused, at least, English law has viewed that individual's damage as 'sacrificial', or as a 'necessary price to be paid', to uphold the wider community interest of ensuring the safety of children. Some child claimants, who have been removed from their parents because of erroneous allegations of abuse made against those parents by HCPs, have not suffered any such injury, and hence, no action by the child has been possible for that reason.
