SAN ANTONIO — The coronavirus pandemic has made everyday life much more stressful. That stress can lead to hostility in the home and in some cases child abuse.
"We've seen an increase in the number of children coming through our trauma resuscitation unit with severe injuries both in trauma and in burn," said Dr. Lillian Liao, the Pediatric Trauma Medical Director at University Hospital, and Associate Professor of Medicine with UT Health San Antonio.
She says child abuse is like a spectrum. She said, "It goes from child maltreatment child neglect all the way to severe injuries, which are normally termed child abuse."
The injuries vary greatly. Dr. Liao added, "It could be a fracture in an arm or a leg, or it could be a burn. It could be more severe, head trauma, traumatic brain injury would be one of the worst that we have seen."
Dr. Liao says recognizing the abuse is key. She told us, "They can be as what we call a minor injury a small burn, to something as severe as significant head trauma. The key with identifying child abuse or what we like to call child maltreatment, because we feel like it’s a spectrum of disease where there is child neglect all the way to actual child abuse."
Before this year the average number of children treated at University Hospital's trauma unit because of domestic violence averaged five cases in the past four months of March, and six cases in the past four months of April. This past March when coronavirus started to keep kids at home only two cases were reported, but in April that number spiked to 10.
The trauma team also treated more children for gunshot wounds and assaults in April too. Dr. Liao said, "Once we have diagnosed the injury and treated the child for the injury, then we can take a step back and say does the injury make sense?"
The next step would have CPS survey the home and work with the hospital to determine whether or not it's possible for the child to have sustained the injury or whether they need to create a safe environment for this child going forward.
Dr. Liao says if you see something say something. She told us, "Also know that you can also call the CPS hotline and report a concern and have the professionals reach out. I think it’s important to if you are really suspecting a child is being neglected, a child is being abused, that there are many avenues to report it in and not necessarily including confronting the caregiver or the parents. Reporting to agencies across the state and having them reach out is one way to help a child who may need your help indirectly."
If you feel a child has been abused in any way, you can report that suspected abuse through the Texas Abuse Hotline by phone or online. Just call 1-800-252-5400 or go here.
For more information about family health call 210-358-3045. You can also find the rest of Wear The Gown stories, just go to WearTheGown.com.