Law Commons^™

Mandatory Reporting Of Wife Assault By Health Care Professionals, Diana Ginn

Dalhousie Law Journal

This article examines the issue of mandatory reporting of wife assault' by health care professionals. Should a health care professional who believes that a patient is being abused by her partner have a legal duty to report that belief, and the information on which it is based, to a designated government ministry or department?2 Such reporting is already required for cases of suspected child abuse and, in one province, for suspected abuse of adults who are mentally or physically unable to protect themselves from the abuse.

Marriage And Opportunism, Margaret F. Brinig, Steven M. Crafton

Journal Articles

Spouse abuse is no longer a secret. It has become a thorn in America's conscience. Abuse even warranted a lengthy Supreme Court discussion in an opinion on abortion. It is certainly worth thinking about whether anything systemic caused the apparent outbreak of violence in the home. If there is a legal "fix" that would remove incentives to abuse, and therefore reduce the incidence of abuse at the margin, we should know about it.

It is the thesis of this article that increased abuse and other undesirable behavior is a natural consequence of the fact that in some states the marriage …