Child abuse: does disclosing the fact have implications for medical secrecy?

Violence in family relationships has a long history. In what form and how often it occurs may vary with the social environment. Public interest in these matters is still growing. When medical professionals are confronted with child abuse, they have to treat such knowledge confidentially. In this respect, medical secrecy is a major handicap to recording the number of cases of child abuse and to organizing efficient assistance. The Netherlands has tackled the dilemma by instituting the so-called Confidential Medical Centres dedicated to helping abused children. In this way, cases of child abuse can be pinpointed more efficiently and treated with more care, and the child's interests are allowed to prevail above medical secrecy.