brand logo

Am Fam Physician. 2000;62(9):1965-1967

to the editor: While I commend Drs. Nicolette and Nuovo for their in-depth editorial entitled “Reframing Our Approach to Domestic Violence: The Cyclic Batterer Syndrome,”1 it simply missed its mark. Let's face it folks, we are missing the forest for the trees here. We all know that it is a well documented fact that 90 percent of America's physicians are not even asking the question. Until we step up to the plate and take serious ownership of a universal domestic violence screening program, we will never improve our miserable performance in this public health crisis.

We cannot complicate the process, or make it more cumbersome than it already is, for the physician in the trenches. Simply put, “RADAR”2 (http://www.ultranet.com/biz/NewStandard/projects/DomVio/radar.HTML), a screening tool created by the Massachusetts College of Emergency Physicians and sponsored by such organizations as Physicians for Social Responsibility and Physicians for a Violence-Free Society, and their educational initiative “DOCumentation,” is on target and easy to implement. It simplifies a complicated intervention problem for all of us. Quite frankly, it is, and should continue to be, the standard bearer for health care domestic violence screening, identification, safety assessment and referral.

I challenge our state Academies, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Emergency Physicians, the American Academy of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the American Medical Association to adopt and implement this program. A famous author once said, “we cannot change everything that we face, but we will not change anything unless we face it.”

editor's note: This letter was sent to the authors of “Reframing our Approach to Domestic Violence: The Cyclic Batterer Syndrome,” who declined to reply.

Email letter submissions to afplet@aafp.org. Letters should be fewer than 400 words and limited to six references, one table or figure, and three authors. Letters submitted for publication in AFP must not be submitted to any other publication. Letters may be edited to meet style and space requirements.

This series is coordinated by Kenny Lin, MD, MPH, deputy editor.

Continue Reading


More in AFP

More in PubMed

Copyright © 2000 by the American Academy of Family Physicians.

This content is owned by the AAFP. A person viewing it online may make one printout of the material and may use that printout only for his or her personal, non-commercial reference. This material may not otherwise be downloaded, copied, printed, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any medium, whether now known or later invented, except as authorized in writing by the AAFP.  See permissions for copyright questions and/or permission requests.