JANESVILLE — Mercy Hospital doesn’t report domestic violence to law enforcement, possibly violating state law and putting victims in more danger without police intervention, officials said.
Mercy’s policy is that domestic injuries don’t have to be reported like sexual assaults or child abuse, even if the victim has a broken arm or skull fracture, said Jackie Friar, Mercy’s Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Program coordinator.
“They’re married or they have a relationship with the person that was just violent against them,” she said. “If she chooses to go back into that environment, we don’t want to put her or her children in danger.”
But police officials said Mercy could be endangering victims by not allowing law enforcement to stop the violence with restraining orders, arrests or victim services.
“We feel the law is quite clear … if hospital staff reasonably believes that the wound occurred as a result of a crime, they should call police,” Janesville Police Chief Dave Moore said. “We believe that police intervention in domestic violence is important.”
Wisconsin statutes state hospital staff must report to law enforcement gunshot wounds, burns or any other wounds believed to have occurred as a result of a crime.
But hospitals, including Mercy and Beloit Memorial, have differing interpretations of the law.
Michelle Tyler, clinical manager of the emergency department at Beloit Memorial, said hospital staff reports all domestic violence because the law requires it.
Beloit Memorial believes domestic injuries fall under the law’s language “any other wounds that are believed to have occurred as a result of a crime.”
After hospital staff calls law enforcement, victims can refuse to cooperate with officers, Tyler said.
“Whether the patient wants to talk to them or not is up to them,” she said. “The ball is in their court, then, but we’ve done our job to notify.
“We don’t want anything bad to happen to the patient,” she said. “It’s only our job to say something strange happened here. You need to investigate this.”
Complicating the hospitals different policies is that Wisconsin has no law about mandatory reporting of domestic abuse to adults.
And the Wisconsin Medical Society has issued an opinion stating hospitals should respect a patient’s right not to disclose domestic violence.
Bill Tyler, a Beloit police captain, said the Wisconsin Medical Society contradicts the law.
“I can promise you if we don’t know about it, no one is intervening on behalf of the victim,” he said. “We’re in the business of preventing further violence.”
Police know victims have reasons not to report abuse, but violence rarely diminishes if it goes unreported, Tyler said.
“To say that I don’t think I’ll be safer if I report this to police doesn’t match up,” he said. “Our goal is to find out enough information, so we can take appropriate steps to make sure the person is not victimized again.”
Moore pointed out that two-thirds of Janesville’s homicides stem from domestic violence, and research is clear that police intervention is key to stopping the cycle of abuse.
“We view these domestic violence calls seriously and as an opportunity to stop that domestic violence cycle before it has a tragic ending,” he said. “Once (victims) present themselves to a medical facility, it’s important that they contact us.”
Hospital and police officials said they have a good relationship and work in the best interest of the victims. They said they work closely on sexual assault and other cases.
And Mercy calls police immediately if victims ask them to, Friar said, admitting that police would rather know about all domestic injuries.
“Of course they would want everyone to report, but you know what, they understand, too, that this is a real volatile situation,” she said.