ABSTRACT
The concept of intentional abuse of infants and children has been accepted for more than half a century. Its physical manifestations have been intensively described and promulgated throughout the civilized world. Yet the diagnosis of physical abuse of children is complex, not simple. The signs of accidental and nonaccidental injury can be indistinguishably identical. As exemplified in the preceding pages, the diagnostic challenge is confused further by a host of nontraumatic conditions imitating physical injury.
