In this assignment, you will review state child abuse reporting laws in order to make a determination of the appropriate action to take. You will also analyze the liability risk to an employee.

You will need to access the Georgia law for this assignment. The law can be accessed here: https://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/state/. 

To access the Georgia law, select Georgia from the state list. Under "Child Abuse and Neglect," check the following: Disclosure of Confidential Child Abuse and Neglect Records; Making and Screening Reports of Child Abuse and Neglect; and Penalties for Failure to Report and False Reporting of Child Abuse and Neglect. Then click “GO” at the bottom of the page.

You are the CEO of a chain of primary care clinics (PrimaryFirst) that serve both adult and pediatric patients in the Savannah, Georgia area. Your system has a clinic in Pembroke, which has a family practice physician one day each week, Dr. Seldom, and is staffed by a nurse practitioner the other days that the clinic is open. You have been made aware by your risk manager that your clinic in Penbroke discharged a 3-year-old boy yesterday who had a splinter fracture of his left radius (one of the two bones in the forearm). The child was assessed by Dr. Seldom. He took an x-ray to confirm the break and placed a soft cast. He contacted an orthopedic physician in Savannah for the child to see in two days for that physician to determine whether surgical intervention or other further care and treatment are necessary. Dr. Seldom noted in his record of this child’s visit that the behavior of the child and his parents seemed suspicious, and he noted that this was the second broken bone for this child in the last six months. No other action was taken.

 

The risk manager informs you that she visited with Dr. Seldom and questioned why he didn’t report the child’s broken arm as suspected child abuse. She states that the physician’s response was that he wasn’t there enough to get involved in “social issues” and that he didn’t want to risk a lawsuit for defamation against the parents of the child.

Based on the information provided in the Pozgar text and Georgia Law (see the link below) provide your assessment of the following questions in less than 500 words:

1. What action should Dr. Seldom have taken?
2. If reporting was appropriate, to what agency should this have been reported and what information should have been communicated to the reporting agency?
3. Was Dr. Seldom correct in his concern of a lawsuit for defamation if he was incorrect by not reporting? Why or why not?
4. Did Dr. Seldom subject himself to potential criminal liability by not reporting? Why or why not?
5. Fortunately the child in this case did not die. If he had been admitted to a hospital following this incident and subsequently died, would the child’s death be required to be reported to the medical examiner? Why or why not?
6. Had the events of this case occurred in a children’s hospital rather than a primary care clinic, would a root cause analysis be recommended? Why or why not?

All sources, including course materials, must be cited in text in APA style.