The medical discovery of shaken baby syndrome and child physical abuse.

Although child abuse is an age-old problem, it was not configured as a medical problem in the United States until the 1960s. Prior to that time, physician involvement in child abuse cases was limited. In the 1960s doctors began to medicalize child abuse by reporting on constellations of symptoms and radiographic findings that resulted from intentional trauma. Many social, political, and professional forces combined to make physicians more interested in playing a leadership role in identifying and treating abused children.