Mental Health Chapter 28-29 Assignment
- A colleague who has witnessed a child being abused states, “I don’t think it’s any of our business what people do in the privacy of their own homes.”
- What would you be legally required to do?
- What are your ethical responsibilities?
- You successfully convinced your colleagues to assess routinely for abuse, and now they want to know how to do it. How would you go about teaching them to assess for child abuse? Intimate partner abuse? Older adult abuse?
- Jonah, 18 years of age, is brutally beaten and sexually assaulted by an unidentified male as he makes his way home from a party in an unfamiliar part of town. He is found semiconscious by a passerby and taken to the emergency department. Jonah has bite marks on his neck; extensive bruises around his head, chest, and buttocks; and has sustained a cracked rib and anal tears.
Ms. Santinez, a nurse and rape counselor in the emergency department, works with Jonah using the hospital’s sexual assault protocol and evidence collection kit. Jonah appears stunned and confused and has difficulty focusing on what the nurse says. He states repeatedly, “This is crazy, this can’t be happening … I can’t believe this has happened to me … Oh, my God, I can’t believe this.”
- What areas of Jonah’s assessment should be given highest priority by Ms. Santinez and her staff while he is in the emergency department?
- Identify what Jonah’s recovery might look like as a survivor of sexual assault. What resources are available to him?
- If Jonah does not wish to report the sexual assault to police, would you still complete the examination?
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