Domestic violence tackled by doctors

Cathy Scott

Thursday, July 24, 1997 | 9:26 a.m.

On the heels of a week marked by an uprecedented number of homicides, half of which stemmed from domestic violence, a task force of doctors met in Las Vegas to learn more about how to stop the slaughter.

Nevada Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa, chairwoman of the Southern Nevada Domestic Violence Task Force, said Wednesday at Caesars Palace that "the human and economic costs are absolutely staggering."

On Wednesday, a Las Vegas man fatally shot his girlfriend, then turned the gun on himself. The murder was the 13th in four days in Clark County.

"Domestic violence will increase in frequency and severity unless there is intervention," Del Papa said. "There is no excuse for domestic violence."

Dr. Ellen Taliaferro, a Los Angeles-based physician who has worked with domestic violence patients for 23 years and chairs the national committee of Physicians for a Violent Free Society, told local doctors that they're often the first to see victims. She encouraged them to intervene by asking questions of the patients and getting them to open up.

"In medical school, I saw women with black eyes and broken jaws," Taliaferro said. "I had no idea that the average victim complained of abdomen pain. It's not the random hit, push, shove. It's a pattern of violence, and in each case it gets worse."

She said 2 million to 4 million women each year are physically abused and battered by their spouses.

"I fell" are the two words physicians hear most often from women who seek medical treatment. She emphasized that doctors need to ask their patients more questions when they come into their offices battered.

"Doctors don't ask directly (what happened)," Taliaferro said. "Why don't we ask?"

Taliaferro encouraged physicians to screen their patients for domestic violence. The conference focused on providing physicians with information on exactly what signs they should watch for.