Do I Have to Report Spousal Abuse?

Know what you should and should not report when treating a patient showing symptoms of abuse.

Transcript:

We hope you’re having a fantastic week. Last week, we got a very serious phone call from one of our members who had a patient in his office that was presenting with injuries that were a result of domestic violence. Specifically, it was spousal abuse. And the doctor had a number of different questions. You know, what do I do? Who do I report this to? Can I report this? Does HIPAA not allow me to report this? Do I have to report it? And then what if the patient doesn’t want me to report these injuries or this domestic violence case to the authorities? A few years ago, a lot of this would have been very murky, but we have some very, very clear definitions now and some things that give us perfect clarity as far as what to do in these particular situations.

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First of all, let me set HIPAA aside, HIPAA does allow you to report things that are necessary report for mandated reporting purposes. In other words, you’re not going to be precluded for privacy reasons to report things because of HIPAA. So set that aside. Now we have to look at okay, what are the requirements in Illinois? What do you have to do in these particular situations? The first is this, under the Illinois Criminal Identification Act that there are two key provisions. The first is that if you’re a physician, you have to report any injury that you’re aware of. That is the result of a firearm or was caused by a firearm. The second is more common, of course, the firearm injuries most likely are going to the ER, what you’re going to see in your office very well, maybe the second item and that is that you’re required to report any injuries that are sustained in the commission of a crime or if they’re presenting from a victim of a crime. And that is where we begin to see exactly how this lays out for spousal abuse.

A few years ago, the Illinois Attorney General made some very clear statements regarding domestic violence. The key one is this domestic violence is a crime. So, when you take domestic violence is a crime, and that is the Attorney General’s interpretation under the Illinois Domestic Violence Act. And you couple that with the fact that you have to report any injuries that are in your office that are the result of either the commission of or with a victim of a crime, those are mandated reporting situations. In other words, you’re actually required to report those to your local authorities. And those can be done in a number of different ways. One is if it’s a very serious injury, like any other injury, you want to make sure that you call 911 and get them to the appropriate hospital that is closest to the nearest emergency room. But if it’s not in those situations presenting your office, most likely, it’s not going to be that you want to find another avenue or even the same avenue to make sure that you report it to the authorities. And you can pick up the phone and call the sheriff’s office or your local police department and sometimes even 911 and that just depends on your particular situation, but you want to do one of those three things.

Now, this is this is really important. So then the question is okay, Marc, what is domestic violence? The Attorney General has laid out some things in their interpretation of the Illinois Domestic Violence Act. What they have indicated is one is any person who hits, chokes, kicks, threatens, harasses, or interferes with the personal liberty of another family or household member has broken the Illinois domestic violence law. So that’s really broad, if you think about it hits, chokes, kicks, threatens harasses, or interferes with the personal liberties. Now, then the question is, okay, Marc, what’s a family member? You know, this is specific to a family or household member, what is it? Well, the Attorney General actually went on to list of exactly what that looks like, and who that is. One is any family members that are related by blood, people who are married or used to be married, and people who share or used to share a home, apartment, or any other common dwelling. People who have or allegedly have a child in common, or a blood relationship through a child in common, people who are dating or engaged or used to date, including same-sex couples, and then people with disabilities and their personal assistance. So in this case, it would be considered domestic violence if you had a personal assistant who was abusing someone with a disability. So all of those would be considered family members. And the Illinois State Attorney General has made it very, very clear that domestic violence is a crime. Crimes and injuries that are sustained as a result of the crime are required to be reported by physicians. Therefore, at the end of the day, if you have a spousal abuse situation present in your office, you’re you become a mandated reporter and you should contact the local authorities. Hopefully, this gives you clarity for the future and let’s pray that you’re not presented with this decision and with these actions, and we’ll catch you next week.