History, injury, and psychosocial risk factor commonalities among cases of fatal and near-fatal physical child abuse

Failure to recognize child maltreatment results in chronic exposure to high-risk environments where re-injury or death may occur. We analyzed a series (n=20) of fatal (n=10) and near-fatal (n=10) physical child abuse cases from the Commonwealth of Kentucky to identify commonalities and determine whether indicators of maltreatment were present prior to the child's fatal or near-fatal event. We conducted retrospective state record reviews involving children