Keep Your Kids Off the Table
Among the problems pediatric surgeons treat most often are traumatic injuries. According to Dr. Stephen G. Murphy of the Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children, 15,000 to 20,000 kids are killed each year from trauma—more than cancer, infections and heart problems combined. Luckier children may suffer head trauma, broken bones or injured organs. Surgeons at A.I.’s Level II trauma center—the only pediatric trauma center in the state—can help. But the best treatment, says Murphy, the center’s chief, is prevention. Murphy wants parents and children to be more aware and take precautions against issues like drowning, firearms accidents—even bicycle wrecks. “We’re in the business of putting ourselves out of business,” he says. “It’s best not to get injured.”
