New ideas to fight domestic violence

PALMA
NEW methods are being used by the Balearic health service to confirm if patients are being subjected to domestic violence, said regional Health Minister Vicenç Thomas yesterday.

Depression, anxiety, addiction to drugs and alcohol - domestic violence and its invisible symptoms are present every day in doctors' surgeries throughout the islands. But now, they can be detected much more quickly if the medical profession suspects they may have a case on their hands. A document devised by specialists with only 10 questions on it will “lift the lid” on whether a patient is suffering physical and/or mental maltreatment at home, said Thomas.

Doctors and professionals in the health industry are the first to be confronted with the signs of domestic violence - signs range from “faint bruising to repeated headaches,” claimed the Minister. He said that with the specialist training that doctors and nurses are being given, cases of domestic violence will come to light much more rapidly.