Quinn Boyle, Judy Illes, Deana Simonetto, Paul van Donkelaar
{"title":"Ethicolegal considerations of screening for brain injury in women who have experienced intimate partner violence.","authors":"Quinn Boyle, Judy Illes, Deana Simonetto, Paul van Donkelaar","doi":"10.1093/jlb/lsac023","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The vast majority of women who experience physical intimate partner violence (IPV) will likely suffer a brain injury (BI) as a result of the abuse. Accurate screening of IPV-BI can ensure survivors have access to appropriate health care and other supports, but screening results may also impact them receiving fair and equitable treatment in the legal system, and the justice they deserve. We used semi-structured interviews, combined with a contrastive vignette that described a realistic but hypothetical scenario involving IPV with or without BI, to explore the impact of BI on parenting disputes. Participants were lawyers (<i>n</i> = 12) whose focus is family law. Results highlight the potential adverse consequences of a positive BI screen that are influenced by the legal responsibility of counsel, the legal aid status of the woman, ongoing family dynamics, and the expectations of society while the focus on the best interests of the child is retained. Taken together, the findings reflect the legal vulnerability of women in decision-making about their capacity to parent after a BI. We conclude with recommendations for the future of IPV-BI screening aimed at mitigating risk and equipping women to navigate a legal system that has disadvantaged them, both historically and in the current context.</p>","PeriodicalId":56266,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law and the Biosciences","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2022-09-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/pmc/oa_pdf/37/26/lsac023.PMC9452684.pdf","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Law and the Biosciences","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jlb/lsac023","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2022/7/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ETHICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
The vast majority of women who experience physical intimate partner violence (IPV) will likely suffer a brain injury (BI) as a result of the abuse. Accurate screening of IPV-BI can ensure survivors have access to appropriate health care and other supports, but screening results may also impact them receiving fair and equitable treatment in the legal system, and the justice they deserve. We used semi-structured interviews, combined with a contrastive vignette that described a realistic but hypothetical scenario involving IPV with or without BI, to explore the impact of BI on parenting disputes. Participants were lawyers (n = 12) whose focus is family law. Results highlight the potential adverse consequences of a positive BI screen that are influenced by the legal responsibility of counsel, the legal aid status of the woman, ongoing family dynamics, and the expectations of society while the focus on the best interests of the child is retained. Taken together, the findings reflect the legal vulnerability of women in decision-making about their capacity to parent after a BI. We conclude with recommendations for the future of IPV-BI screening aimed at mitigating risk and equipping women to navigate a legal system that has disadvantaged them, both historically and in the current context.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Law and the Biosciences (JLB) is the first fully Open Access peer-reviewed legal journal focused on the advances at the intersection of law and the biosciences. A co-venture between Duke University, Harvard University Law School, and Stanford University, and published by Oxford University Press, this open access, online, and interdisciplinary academic journal publishes cutting-edge scholarship in this important new field. The Journal contains original and response articles, essays, and commentaries on a wide range of topics, including bioethics, neuroethics, genetics, reproductive technologies, stem cells, enhancement, patent law, and food and drug regulation. JLB is published as one volume with three issues per year with new articles posted online on an ongoing basis.