Schornstein, Sherri L. 1997. Domestic Violence and Health Care: What Every Professional Needs to Know.

California: SAGE Publications, Inc. 186p.

Medical professionals have the unique opportunity to intervene in domestic violence cases, but many are not trained or do not know how to do so. This book is for them. It contains practical tools to examine domestic violence cases from the perspective of an advocate for survivors and the public prosecutor, who is also concerned for the safety of all involved. It begins with general information on domestic violence and explores the societal perspective by answering common myths, detailing obstacles, exploring reasons and citings ways to facilitate intervention. The characteristics of abusers, survivors and the secondary outcomes of abuse are presented, followed by detailed guidelines on documenting cases and giving information to survivors. The author then discusses how to ascertain the true cause of injury and comply with injury-reporting requirements. She explains the legal background and framework, and presents a format for a record of injury disclosure to law enforcers. Safety issues are discussed next, with detailed security plans and recommended security measures. The last chapter explains the process of criminal proceedings against the abuser and gives advice to health care providers who need to give testimony in court.

Source: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, California 91320, USA. E-mail: <[e-mail]>.