Campaign Alerts Physicians to Identify, Assist Victims of Domestic Violence

Abstract

IT'S ONE OF THE MOST underreported crimes in the United States. It claims a victim every 15 seconds. Its victims are often ashamed to report it. It is not rape. The crime is wife beating, and, according to Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, MD, "it's an overwhelming moral, economic, and public health burden that our society can no longer bear. No man has a license to beat... and get away with it, and no woman is obliged to accept a beating... and suffer because of it." <h3>Enlisting ACOG's Aid</h3> Koop's ringing words kicked off a 1989 campaign to improve awareness of the problem among the physicians who often are a woman's primary care provider—obstetricians and gynecologists. All 27 000 members of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) will be receiving a technical bulletin that describes the nature of domestic violence and how to identify and assist its victims