Domestic violence: HAS wants to make consultation questionnaires systematic

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One hundred and twenty-one women have lost their lives to the blows of their spouse or ex-spouse since the beginning of 2022, according to the association All of us. To prevent these tragedies, the High Authority for Health asks doctors to systematically question their patients on the domestic violence. Objective: to standardize this question and take charge faster possible victims.

Domestic violence: “a vital risk”

In 2019, in its work on the “identification of female victims of violence within the couple”, the HAS already recommended that professionals question their patients, even in the absence of warning signs, about any current or past domestic violence.

However, this recommendation was rarely applied: according to a survey conducted by the BVA institute for HAS, only 3% of women who consulted a general practitioner in the last 18 months remember having been questioned on this subject (source 1).

Undetected violence has consequences on physical and mental health and generally becomes more frequent and severe over time, until it represents a vital risk, HAS alert.

And to insist: “The role of general practitioners is all the more important because, through the relationship of trust they maintain with their patients, they are very often the first professionals to whom women victims of violence turn“.

More than 8 out of 10 women also consider it important, legitimate and reassuring for the doctor to question his patients about violence. And 96% consider systematic questioning to be a good thing.