Infanticide by starvation: calculation of caloric deficit to determine degree of deprivation.

A review of medical records and autopsy examination of a six-week-old male revealed the cause of death to be severe malnutrition with dehydration. Weight and caloric deficits were calculated to determine the degree of deprivation, which could be expressed as an interval of days for clear courtroom presentation. These calculations may be useful for quantifying the degree of malnutrition in a variety of child abuse cases.