Abstract
Medical doctors have to play an important role for preventing child abuse and neglect. Their early detection and referral to the proper authorities can well change the prognosis of a child's life. In Japan, the measures to prevent child abuse and neglect spread widely after the law was enacted in 2000. The law also strengthened doctors' awareness of their duty to refer such cases. But doctors have occasionally misunderstood that their role is limited to detection and referral. Early detection and referral is just an initial approach, and not a goal. In a community network, every network member must play their own role first. The main role of a doctor is a medical issue. The daily practice of neurosurgeons closely relates to detecting child abuse and neglect, for example, head injury and shaken baby syndrome. The child rearing ability of parents sometimes effects the natural prognosis of a child's disease. Childhood handicaps caused by injury or congenital malformation may be a risk factor for children suffering abuse and neglect. So, a proper medical follow-up by a doctor can prevent such abuse. Now, all children wish that their doctors including neurosurgeons assume their responsibility.
