Condamnation d'un pédiatre à raison d'un signalement : absence fautive de prudence et de circonspection

The ability to report to the judicial or administrative authorities of the facts of child abuse and neglect is a legal exception to medical confidentiality. Reporting obvious dangerous situations requiring urgent action usually causes no problem for practitioners. In more complex situations, evidence of danger and urgency of action are less certain and ask about the relevancy of court reporting. Prosecutions against a doctor because of a court reporting are rare and convictions remain rare. In a recent case involving a pediatrician, the disciplinary judge and the civil courts have held that the doctor's fault lies not in the fact of reporting, but to have done it by failing to caution and circumspection, because of the adversarial nature of the parents' divorce. The courts have also held that the allegations did not constitute child abuse or neglect. In such cases, caution and circumspection encourage to promote a multidisciplinary assessment of children and families, involving pediatricians, forensic pathologists, psychiatrists and social services.