Ch. 558                                    1994 LAWS OF MARYLAND

BY adding to

Article - Health - General

Section 19-1701 through 19-1706 19-705 19-1705 to be under the new subtitle
"Subtitle 17. Domestic Violence Medical Response Act"

Annotated Code of Maryland

(1990 Replacement Volume and 1993 Supplement)

Preamble

WHEREAS, The Office of the United States Surgeon General has found domestic
violence to be one of the major public health problems in American society today, with
research revealing that domestic violence is responsible for three times as many
emergency department visits as auto accidents, muggings, and rapes combined; and

WHEREAS, According to Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics, a battering
incident occurs every 15 seconds in the United States and more than 2,000 women die
annually as a' result of domestic violence; and

WHEREAS, One out of every five women will be a victim of domestic violence
during her lifetime; and                                                     

WHEREAS, Medical costs associated with domestic violence total more than $3
billion annually with at least another $100 million added to the cost to business in lost
wages, sick leave, nonproductivity, and absenteeism; and

WHEREAS, Twenty-five to forty percent of battered women are assaulted during
pregnancy, and a recent March of Dimes study notes that battering during pregnancy
represents the single largest cause of birth defects, resulting in miscarriage, preterm
labor, low birth weight, fetal injury, and fetal death; and

WHEREAS, Studies have repeatedly indicated that physicians who treat battered
worried in emergency department settings fail to make referrals or in any other way
respond to cases of domestic violence; and

WHEREAS, Early recognition and intervention has a clear impact on the morbidity
and mortality of violence against women in the home; and

WHEREAS, A significant improvement in the emergency department response to
domestic violence is critical; now, therefore, and

WHEREAS, The Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of the State of Maryland has
joined with the Maryland Alliance Against Family Violence to create the Maryland
Physicians' Campaign Against Family Violence; and

WHEREAS, The Maryland Physicians' Campaign Against Family Violence will
work with hospitals and local medical societies arid will utilize hospital facilities to train
local health care practitioners to recognize, treat, and refer the victims of family violence;
now, therefore,                   

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
MARYLAND, That the Laws of Maryland read as follows:

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