Family violence and clinical forensic medicine – The forgotten service?

The recent national focus on family violence has had an impact on many areas within the Australian community. The setting up of a Royal Commission into Family Violence in Victoria is just one of these responses and in turn the recommendations of this Royal Commission have implications for government, the courts as well as a range of State and Territory organisations. While issues affecting courts, police and social services provision have received significant media attention, the role of clinical forensic medical services is less well known. While only one of the Royal Commission’s recommendations specifically refers to clinical forensic medicine, a review of the report indicates that almost 30 recommendations have relevance to the practice of clinical forensic medicine. These recommendations deal with areas such as data collection, including information sharing and analysis, education, the development of specialist family violence service models, integration with family violence agencies and service providers, and the importance of research. A striking feature of the provision of services to those involved as parties to family violence, particularly victims, is the relative lack of engagement of clinical forensic medicine services in providing both medical support and evidential medical assessment. Greater utilisation of clinical forensic medical services has the potential to improve the utilisation and effectiveness of courts in addressing some of the issues arising out of family violence.