Crazy busy here at FHO headquarters this morning (and by headquarters, I of course mean my kitchen), so I will leave you with an interesting read, especially for all of you doing anti-trafficking work. Check out Newsweek’s article, The John Next Door, about the growing demand for prostitution. Some very intriguing research featured in the piece.
(Hat tip: WCSAP)
Can we all agree on one thing? The BAC threshold of .08 is not a measure of sobriety in general terms. It is a measure of a person’s sobriety as it pertains to safely operating a motor vehicle. I would like to ask my colleagues who are turning patients away because they are blowing > .08 to please reconsider this practice. Denying patients care because their BAC is over the legal limit to operate a motor vehicle makes no sense.
I am consulting on a couple cases right now, so testimony is on my mind. Today I am going to post my Expert Witness’ Bill of Rights. By all means, please do add to this if you come up with any I have missed. Also remember, this is opinion and opinion only. Just because I think it’s true doesn’t mean you will agree, or that the attorneys you work with will care what I think (in fact I’d say it’s a solid bet that they won’t). So, with all those caveats, here are what I consider to be essential considerations for taking on the role of expert witness:
One of FHO’s readers sent me an article this morning on an appellate decision related to the use of Facebook. The decision centered around whether a student at the University of Minnesota could be disciplined because of Facebook posts created off campus and outside of academic hours. And so far, the answer continues to be yes. I post this because when I speak on the issue of defensible practice, a topic about which I am passionate, one of the key areas I touch on is the use of social media. As I’ve written previously, I am a huge fan of things like Facebook, and obviously there’s this blog, and it’s connected to my Twitter feed, so, yeah, I’m all over the interwebs.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has released a new policy statement—Protecting Children From Sexual Abuse by Health Care Providers (PDF). Medscape has an overview of the statement, with a CME activity attached (sorry, physicians only). It’s an interesting read, and one that addresses an issue I’ve not seen other organizations address (hello, AMA?).
Workplace Violence 101 is being offered by the ePanic Button. It’s a good starting place for those of you trying to engage your agencies in looking at policies related to violence in the workplace. The session will be held July 22nd from 2:30-3:30 pm ET and is free of charge.
Providing emergency contraception (EC) is a standard part of the sexual assault medical-forensic exam. However, I find that a lot of clinicians have a difficult time explaining how EC works so that patients can make a well-informed choice about whether they want it. So I was pleased to get an email yesterday announcing the availability of a new fact sheet on EC (PDF), outlining what the science tells us about mechanism of action. It should be a great resource to provide team members and our collaborating colleagues in the emergency departments who are often responsible for having similar conversations with patients.
Can I tell you how long I have been waiting to get to post this? It is with great excitement that I can announce IAFN’s free adolescent/adult web-based SAFE training and clinical workshop (clinical workshop, people! How amazing is that?). Full details after the jump.
Have you seen this site? It’s a really interesting idea from the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. It’s been live for awhile now, but I have only just come across it (again, thanks Twitter). What’s fascinating about it is that it is more social media than similar sites. And it’s in French, English and Spanish.
With all the press surrounding the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case, it’s hard not to comment. But quite frankly, there’s plenty that’s already been said (and in some cases, said really well), so I’ll leave it at this: in my 16 years of taking care of sexual assault patients, I have yet to meet the victim that could withstand the kind of scrutiny that has been leveled at the victim in this case. The kind of victim who has no embarrassing, or god forbid, illegal, actions in her past (distant or otherwise); who comes forward immediately and is consistent down to the word in her repeated retellings of the events; who only associates with people of unimpeachable character; who is able to catalog everything she drinks prior to the assault, and everyone she talks to before and after; and who has never been assaulted in the past. All that makes us human makes us lousy sexual assault witnesses, each and every one of us.
Oh, I do love a good expert witness webinar. And IAFN and AALNC are offering a joint one Auguts 17th at 3pm ET, The Nurse Expert Witness: The Basics and Beyond (plus they’re offering CEUs). Registration’s not yet open for this event, but it’s worth getting on your calendar, and I will update the page when it becomes available .
I have a lot of respected friends and colleagues who care for pediatric abusive head trauma and sexual abuse patients. And I have a lot of respected friends and colleagues who prosecute these cases. So I will be interested in feedback about this particular Frontline program (it debuted last night on PBS) that looks at child fatalities and its central premise that some forensic pathologists are ill-equipped to fully explore cause of death in child cases where abuse is suspected.
I have had quite a few emails from my Photo post the other day, including several questions about how to get stronger on the foundations–simply understanding the way the camera works and how to take a basic shot. In a lovely example of the planets aligning, Lifehacker, a favorite timesuck of mine, has a new Night School post, The Basics of Photography: The Complete Guide.
In the US, the Department of Health and Human Services provides science-based healthcare objectives for the country in a document called Healthy People. Healthy People 2020 was released at the end of last year, and if you haven’t had a chance to see it (made easier by a pretty decent website), it’s worth looking at. Struggling to get your healthcare agency to continue supporting your program? Trying to explain to a judge or jury why what you do isn’t just evidence collection, but healthcare? Well, Healthy People is a good way to underscore this point–by looking at the Healthy People 2010 outcomes (like this one specific to IPV), and by pointing to what the country’s objectives are in the newest version.
At the request of several readers, I have added a 10 Things tab to the top nav where you can find all of the lists I’ve published to date. Thanks for asking!
Clearly, I’m having trouble grasping just what Kia Motors thought was a great marketing nugget in this particular ad:
When training lawyers, as I was yesterday, one topic we always discuss is photography and the pros and cons of taking photographs. Particularly genital photographs. I have found both prosecutors and defense counsel have some very specific opinions about this, and I love to have that conversation. But in the course of yesterday’s conversation, I realized that I, too, have some pretty strong opinions on the subject I figured I would share. Now, I am keenly aware that many of my colleagues outside the US have forgone genital photography entirely, but since it’s still commonplace here, and because I review a lot of injury photos as part of my job consulting on cases, I’d like to offer up a list of 10 Things I’d love clinicians to consider when using photography in practice. Mind you, these really are strictly my opinion, so take them for what they are–a jumping off point for further discussion on the topic.
Time once again for this month’s Articles of Note. These are a selection from peer-reviewed journals that feel particularly relevant to our practice. Remember, it’s in no way a comprehensive or exhaustive list, but it’s an excellent place to start. The majority of the links will take you to PubMed. However, I have included one free full-text article, so look out for that one. Articles are from the late May/June/July issues or electronic publications. A printable list is after the jump, followed by the list of live links.
SAFEta Source has another webinar coming up in July. Sexual Abuse Behind Bars: Serving Incarcerated Victims will be held July 28th at 2pm ET. As always, SAFEta webinars are free of charge.
For all of our death investigator colleagues, the newly published Death Investigation: A Guide for the Scene Investigator from the US Department of Justice (PDF).