SAN DIEGO — What are the responsibilities of a healthcare worker when treating a victim of domestic violence?
Under current law, healthcare workers treating a domestic violence victim are required to report the suspected abuse to law enforcement.
Some advocates, though, say that this only increases the dangers that victims face, and are supporting new legislation would eliminate that requirement.
Critics of this new bill say it will have unintended consequences.
Those critics say that eliminating mandated reporting would reverse nearly three decades of progress made since the existing law was passed in 1994.
"I share my story because. I lost my mother to it, I grew up with it, I lived it... and I almost lost my life to it," said San Diegan Isabel Rosales, a survivor of domestic violence.
For more than 15 years, she endured abuse at the hands of her husband, who nearly killed the mother of three in January 2018.
"He snapped and he stabbed me, and I ran into my kids' room hoping that maybe because my kids were there he wouldn't harm me, and yet he still did," she told CBS 8.
Medics rushed her to UC San Diego Medical Center, where doctors asked who had attacked her. She pointed out her husband.
"I wanted him to finally have to pay for what he had done for so many years," she added.
Under current state law, healthcare workers are required to report suspected domestic abuse to law enforcement.
"Regardless of what I wanted, they were going to proceed with the charges," Rosales said.
It's a move that Rosales said transformed her life.
Ultimately, her husband was sentenced to 23 years in prison, and she has become a trained domestic violence counselor.
In Rosales' case, the law worked as intended: but some victim advocates say this is not always the outcome.
They are pushing for the passage of Assembly Bill 1028, which would no longer mandate that health care workers report suspected domestic violence abuse to law enforcement.
"As a survivor myself, I think that what that does by getting rid of that, is that it gives survivors more options," said Dr. Diane Gout with the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, which along with dozens of other organizations is supporting this bill.
She said that while victims would still have the option of having doctors report the abuse to the police if the victim wishes, this new law would allow the victim to decide which course to take. giving them more autonomy.
"Survivors are the best ones to know what's going to help them or hinder them in those moments," said Gout, who has been researching domestic violence for more than 30 years.
"This is for safety.," said Assembly Member Tina McKinnor. She wrote this new bill, which she says is more victim-centered.
She said that by eliminating mandated abuse reporting, victims who need health care will be more willing to access it, without the fear that law enforcement will automatically be notified.
McKInnor said victims of color and those from immigrant communities are particularly vulnerable.
"They might not even get reported immediately, and if they find out that they got reported, it could make the situation worse at home," she added.
Instead, under AB 1028, health care workers would refer the victim to available resources, from counseling and cash assistance to transportation and emergency shelter.
"Now, will they still use it? We don't know, we don't know for sure, but it just won't be handing them to the police and just letting go from there," she said. "Because I'm sorry, law enforcement just don't have the experience to take care of these domestic violence victims."
"If AB 1028 passes, more women are going to die in California," said former San Diego City Attorney Casey Gwinn, who prosecuted more than 10,000 domestic violence cases before leaving office. He wrote the current law, which has been in place since 1994.
Gwinn is also a founder of the Family Justice Center of San Diego, which provides comprehensive services to abuse victims. He is currently the president of Alliance for HOPE International, formerly the Family Justice Center Alliance.
"When AB 1028 passes, the message that will go out to abusers is, if you adequately threaten and intimidate your victim, she won't call the police," Gwinn said. "They're drawing a target on the victim's chest!"
Locally, San Diego District Attorney Summer Stephan and City Attorney Mara Elliott have voiced strong opposition to AB 1028..
Gwinn said it is unrealistic to expect victims to seek help after receiving a referral to services, pointing to a recent study in Alameda County.
"Six percent of those victims actually accessed services after that," he pointed out. "Six percent."
But the bill's supporters point to other research, including a 2015 survey by the National Domestic Violence Hotline that found 83% of survivors said mandated reporting to police either did nothing to improve the situation, or made it worse.
Gwinn blasted this finding.
"The statewide survey done in California in March actually finds the majority of advocates and survivors support current law," he said.
"I know this is a hard decision for a lot of the legislators," Assembly Member McKinnor said.
As the state legislature weighs its decision, survivor Isabel Rosales believes the decision made for her, to report the abuse was - in her situation - ultimately the best one.
"It takes a community," Rosales said. "We can't do this alone... I could not have done this alone."
In 2021, there were more than 18,000 reported domestic violence incidents in San Diego County , according to SANDAG.
One exception under this bill: injuries caused by firearms would be required to be reported to law enforcement Also, child abuse and elder abuse victims would not fall under AB 1028.
The State Assembly has already approved this legislation. It is now heading to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
For more information on AB 1028, including arguments both in support of and in opposition to this legislation, click here.
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