Domestic violence...myths and barriers

The past 15 to 20 years have seen the birth of a new national awareness of the impact of family violence on our national health and resources. The Surgeon General of the United States has identified domestic violence as the nation's number one health problem. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) has mandated, as of January 1992, that all emergency departments and ambulatory care facilities establish guidelines for the identification, evaluation, management and referral of adult victims of domestic violence. In June 1992, the AMA published guidelines for identification and intervention with domestic violence victims. All states now have provisions in their laws that define marital rape as a crime, and many states have mandatory arrest statutes for men found by the police to be abusing their wives. This review identifies some common societal and professional barriers limiting the emergency response to domestic violence.