Medical professionals not always trained to identify child abuse

Jefferson City-based Missouri Kids First is an agency that works to empower adults to protect children from child abuse.

“Many times I think we expect children to protect themselves from abuse by teaching them about body danger and potential predators,” said Executive Director Joy Oesterly. “We firmly believe it’s an adult’s responsibility.”

A two-month-old infant died last week after his parents described him as “non-responsive and shallow breathing.” The father, Christopher Buxton, is now charged with murder after doctors at MU’s Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Columbia identified signs of non-accidental trauma.

“A 2 1/2-month-old child doesn’t roll around on the floor where they might roll around and hit themselves on a corner of a table,” said Oesterly. “They don’t have the physical development to be able to do those things.”

Court documents also revealed a Columbia pediatrician saw the child in early July for a large bruise on his back. The pediatrician later admitted she advised the mother, Mary Buxton, to avoid going to the emergency room because it might trigger an investigation.

“People quickly dismiss what may be their gut reaction,” said Oesterly. “I think a lot of times we do that because we don’t want to accuse anybody of doing something wrong. It’s a sensitive issue and we don’t want to accuse somebody if they haven’t done it.”

Oesterly said there are also tens of thousands of mandated reporters across the state, but many of them don’t know if they’re required to report or not.

“They don’t know what to do when they suspect child abuse,” she said.

Missouri Kids First works with pediatricians who specialize in child abuse and have found out that even though doctors are mandated reporters, and can be punished by law if they do not report, they’re not really trained to recognize the signs of child abuse.

“They will frequently tell us that in medical school pediatricians don’t get very much education as it’s related to child abuse,” Oesterly said. “For the average pediatrician it would be uncommon that they have very much education about child abuse.”

Oesterly said while it is troubling that the pediatrician wouldn’t report the case, there’s more to it.

“I think a reasonable person could expect a medical provider to take some action and it’s unfortunate that it appears that happened,” she said. “But the real crime here is that someone intentionally injured this child.”

House Bill 1877, that goes into effect at the end of the month, will be part of a way to address these cases before they become fatal.

“We will be looking at all allegations of child physical abuse for kids 3 and younger,” said Oesterly. “Those cases will get referred to medical providers who have specialized training in child abuse so that we can intervene earlier.”