Abuse ambulance Many younger than 18 years

Half of the patients in the outpatient clinic younger than 18 years

27/10/2013

68 victims were examined last year in the Abuse Outpatient Clinic at Dornbirn Hospital in Austria. Half of them were younger than 18 years.

Violence against children and adolescents
In Austria, two cases of child abuse caused a sensation last week, in which women were also tried as perpetrators. The Dornbirn Hospital in Vorarlberg, Austria organized a training seminar for doctors on the subject „Violence against children and adolescents“. The abuse clinic in Dornbirn looked after a total of 68 victims of sexual assault in 2012 alone. Every second patient was younger than 18 years.

Number has quintupled
Since 2002, the abuse clinic of the hospital Dornbirn exists. „The abuse clinic as we have it, is unique in Austria“, so the director Karin Frischeis-Bischofberger. In the first year, the outpatient clinic, which was set up on the initiative of the Province of Vorarlberg, recorded twelve patients. The number has thus quintupled meanwhile. Only trained female employees and forensically trained female doctors look after and examine the affected children, adolescents and women at the facility. A total of 16 people are working for the outpatient clinic in addition to their actual duties.

Dark figure is higher
According to Frischeis-Bischofberger, the number of patients is rising and the number of unreported cases is much higher. She also said that children and adolescents should also have access to the child protection group of the hospital, which is responsible for children who have been victims of sexual abuse and those who have suffered violence or neglect. „If we suspect sexual abuse, we will get together with the gynecology department“, such as the pediatrician Reyhan Tschiderer, head of the child protection group. Each year, the group looks after the 50 children, including 30 for sexual assault.

Discuss and document events
As the ambulance director Frischeis-Bischofberger explained, the victims would be hospitalized to be able to clarify everything in peace. The investigation of over 18-year-olds can be done on an outpatient basis. First, the events would be discussed and documented completely and then followed by a whole body examination. The findings are then collected in a legally usable documentation. (Ad)

Picture: momosu