Emergency Department Responses to Battered Women: Resistance to Medicalization

This participant observation study reports on responses of staff members in three hospital emergency departments where there is resistance to dealing with battered women and describes a fourth emergency department where attempts to medicalize staff members' views of battered women create more favorable responses toward such women.

Abstract

Reformers are attempting to restructure medical responses to "battering"—the injury of women by husbands and boyfriends—by encouraging health care personnel to identify and intervene in cases involving battered women. In this participant observation study, I report on responses of staff members in three hospital emergency departments where there is resistance to dealing with battered women. I then describe a fourth emergency department where attempts to medicalize staff members' views of battered women create more favorable responses toward such women. I discuss implications for policy regarding treatment by battered women and for research on the process of medicalization.