A pediatric expert with the University of Louisville and Kosair is working to stop the violence before it
becomes deadly, using "baby bruises" to spot the abuse.
Any parent will tell you that kids bruise, but Dr. Melissa Currie is teaching medical experts that certain bruises in young babies should never happen and when they do, they usually signal abuse.
"Bruising in babies is not normal. This is not something that has been widely understood. This is new information in the medical community," she said. "Once they start falling down, they earn their bruises in the normal locations. But young babies who are not mobile should not have bruises."
Some bruising like on a baby's bottom is obvious.
Other bruises are easy to miss.
Currie is teaching a method called TEN-4 -- Torso, Ear and Neck (TEN) and 4, as in 4 years old and younger.
"So, the examples we have on the slide here are photographs of bruising that showed up on the torso, ears and neck of a young child," Currie said. "Any human being who looked at these photographs would be disturbed."
But they're important photos to see to catch abuse before it's too late.
Breaking the abuse: Using TEN-4 to help identify child abuse
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