Most states have failed to adopt laws that would help doctors and nurses provide optimal assistance to victims of domestic violence, according to a study by the Family Violence
Prevention Fund. Its State-by-State Report Card on Health Care Laws and Domestic Violence assesses each state's progress in five critical areas: training, screening, protocols,
reporting and insurance.
Pennsylvania was the only state to earn an A. California, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York and Washington received grades of B. The majority of states, however, are barely
passing with grades of C or D with Colorado failing.
The report calls for states to do a better job of adopting laws that:
- call for training healthcare professionals on screening for domestic violence;
- require all healthcare systems to develop written policies on screening for family violence, recording patient injuries and making referrals to community
agencies; - promote safe and confidential discussions between healthcare providers and patients on family violence;
- forbid insurers from discriminating against domestic violence victims; and
- require healthcare professionals to report an incident of domestic violence to law enforcement officials only where there are life-threatening injuries and/or
gunshot wounds.
(Family Violence Prevention Fund, http://www.fvpf.org, Lisa Lederer, 202/371-1999)