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Silent Survivors
1Department of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, University of California, David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California evolkmann@mednet.ucla.edu.
Annals of Family Medicine
|April 5, 2017
Abstract:
Early in my medical training, I cared for a patient who survived a brutal sexual assault necessitating ICU level care. Months later, I was raped. This essay is a reflection on my experience as a survivor of sexual violence and as a provider for patients whose wounds from these traumas have flourished in atmospheres of shame and stigma. In this essay, I further explore how physicians and other health care providers can play a central role in restoring the health of individuals who silently suffer after these unspeakable events.