Let’s say that the medical industry receives or makes a very serious recommendation that involves the health of patients. You would expect the industry to respond to this recommendation with vigor, right? You would think that the doctors, nurses, surgeons and everyone else involved in the medical field would do everything in their power to ensure that the recommendation is fulfilled.
It appears that when it comes to kids and screening them for potential developmental disorders, recommendations don’t mean much. It was recommended that doctors screen young children once a year for potential developmental disorders. In a perfect world, these screenings would happen — but in our world, few children actually receive the screenings. Worse still, the whole matter of kids and developmental disorders seems to be dismissed.
Some data from the government shows that 79 percent of kids were not screened for developmental disorders in the previous year (the data was from 2007 and 2008). It also shows that many doctors prefer to have “informal” conversations with parents regarding developmental disorders and their children. These discussions rarely amount to much — such as an actual screening — but they do occur, at least according to roughly 50 percent of parents who confirmed such discussions.
This should not be taken lightly, as it is a very important issue. Doctors could be missing crucial developmental disorders in children, thus drastically altering the lives of those kids and their families. A doctor’s failure to screen a child could be the basis of a medical malpractice lawsuit.
Source: Disability Scoop, “Nearly 8 In 10 Kids Don’t Get Developmental Screenings,” Shaun Heasley, Sept. 11, 2014
