PEDIATRICS Vol. 65 No. 5 May 1980, pp. 1042-1043
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The ‘Vulnerable Child’: Intimations of Mortality

Morris Green MD1

1 Department of Pediatrics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis

Pediatrics has been at the forefront in its attention to populations and individuals at risk of death or disease. Much attention has been directed toward health vulnerabilities or potential precursors of disease. When preventive services, which now occupy about half of the pediatrician's time in the United States, are regularly utilized by parents who also consult the physician appropriately when their child is sick, pediatric care is effective and efficient; on the other hand, failure to utilize such resources parsimoniously is an issue deserving of examination.

As documented by Levy in this issue (p. 956), a common reason for excessive utilization of health services is a parent's belief that a particular child is especially vulnerable to illness.