This interesting study of children hospitalized for severe burn injuries suggests accident proneness and unconsciously motivated self-ignition in a significant proportion of cases. Of note is an unusual frequency of childhood abandonment in the parents' life history, usually the parent of the same sex as the burned victim. The authors propose that the second generation following a parental loss is subject to significant deprivation of object love by the abandoned parent who, in turn, may see himself as worthless and undeserving of warm object ties. This may result in defective cathexis of the child's own body, with subsequent indifference to bodily integrity. There is the suggestion that burn injury may represent an 'anniversary' response via identification with the abandoned parent, as the ages of victims at the time of the burn injuries were similar to the ages of their parents when abandoned. Though no conclusions should be drawn from this small sample, there is the implication that the burned child may present dynamics that differ significantly from those of child victims of other forms of injury.