http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_14812167
Utah: Survey shows Emergency room staff said they don't always report domestic violence to police, need more training.
A mandatory-reporting law that requires health care providers to contact law enforcement when they treat a victim of intimate partner violence often isn't followed by hospital emergency department staff in Utah.
In a survey conducted last spring, a majority of emergency department employees -- nearly 87 percent of urban staff and 75 percent of rural staff -- reported they were not adequately trained to conduct abuse interviews. A majority also said lack of training was an obstacle in identifying abuse as the cause of an injury.
When they did identify or suspect injuries from intimate partner violence, emergency department staff said they were as likely to give the victim information on community resources as to contact law enforcement.
The survey findings highlight mandatory reporting as a "complicated" issue for health care professionals, one that raises fundamental ethical and legal issues, said Todd Allen, research director for the Department of Emergency Medicine at Intermountain Medical Center.
"First and foremost, health care professionals try to assure the safety and privacy of patients and many feel that mandatory reporting might put either or both of those principles in jeopardy," Allen said. "I think that [doctor-patient confidentiality] would be broken with reporting to law enforcement, and that the involvement of law enforcement might escalate the behavior of the perpetrator and put the victim at increased risk in both the short and long term."
Utah: Survey shows Emergency room staff said they don't always report domestic violence to police, need more training.
A mandatory-reporting law that requires health care providers to contact law enforcement when they treat a victim of intimate partner violence often isn't followed by hospital emergency department staff in Utah.
In a survey conducted last spring, a majority of emergency department employees -- nearly 87 percent of urban staff and 75 percent of rural staff -- reported they were not adequately trained to conduct abuse interviews. A majority also said lack of training was an obstacle in identifying abuse as the cause of an injury.
When they did identify or suspect injuries from intimate partner violence, emergency department staff said they were as likely to give the victim information on community resources as to contact law enforcement.
The survey findings highlight mandatory reporting as a "complicated" issue for health care professionals, one that raises fundamental ethical and legal issues, said Todd Allen, research director for the Department of Emergency Medicine at Intermountain Medical Center.
"First and foremost, health care professionals try to assure the safety and privacy of patients and many feel that mandatory reporting might put either or both of those principles in jeopardy," Allen said. "I think that [doctor-patient confidentiality] would be broken with reporting to law enforcement, and that the involvement of law enforcement might escalate the behavior of the perpetrator and put the victim at increased risk in both the short and long term."