Dialogue Volume 11 Issue 3 2015 | Page 9

feature A Duty to Report, a Chance to Protect Suspicions of child abuse or neglect trigger a fundamental professional obligation By Stuart Foxman photo: MASTERFILE C ertainty isn’t always a luxury in the practice of medicine. So consider a few questions. If you’re unsure of a case, yet have suspicions, how strong must they be to have them probed further? When would you consult other experts? Would you just assume it’s nothing and let the matter go? What is your duty? Here’s one variable to weigh, which might help you answer. What if the suspected condition was so common that it affected perhaps one-third of children? Would that make you more likely or less likely to ensure the case received continued exploration? In 2014, the Canadian Medical Association Journal reported that 32% of Canadians had experienced some type of child abuse. That includes physical abuse, sexual abuse or exposure to intimate partner violence. Abuse and other forms of neglect are an enormous health hazard for children – and also represent a duty to report for doctors when there are reasonable grounds to suspect it. That duty means informing a Issue 3, 2015 Dialogue 9