A woman arrives at the hospital with injuries from a beating at home. A sympathetic nurse urges her to consider filing for a court order of protection. I will, the woman promises.
Her physical wounds tended, she leaves. The nurse gets the sinking sense that the patient won't call the courthouse. No call gets made.
Three Catholic hospitals in New Jersey want to change that depressing outcome by providing a prompt and safe way for victims of domestic violence to obtain protection orders. They have installed video links that allow victims to talk from the hospitals to officials at county courthouses and get protection orders approved by judges before the victims step outside the hospital.
St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson served as the test site beginning in August 2009 and became a model for the growing Hospital to Court Safety Assistance Project, the state court system's video-contact program. Trinitas Regional Medical Center in Elizabeth signed on in June 2012.
In March, Saint Peter's University Hospital in New Brunswick became the seventh hospital participant. "It is intrinsic to our mission to assist the most vulnerable, and we want to serve as a safe haven," said Julie Clarke, the hospital's manager of social work.
St. Joseph's has coordinated 36 video hearings between victims and court officers since 2009, leading to the issuance of 28 restraining orders. That's most of the statewide total so far, largely because many of the hospitals are still new to the program. Trinitas has provided the link for three such court orders.
Kids, stress, fear
Tina Miles, manager of psychiatric emergency services at St. Joseph's, said she once held a victim's infant as the woman spoke by video link to an officer of the Passaic County Family Court. Miles said the victim, in her late 20s, had two other children in school that day. After the woman obtained a protection order by fax, the hospital arranged for a police officer to take her home.
"Had she simply been discharged, I don't think she would have gone to court," Miles said. "Her life would have taken over again — the kids, the stress, the fear. She felt too threatened by her abuser to go downtown for a hearing. What we could offer her was a sense of safety to take that step."
Harry Cassidy, with the state family court office in Trenton, said the office published guidelines for the program in May 2012 after reviewing the success at St. Joseph's. He said the goal is to recruit as many as possible of the state's more than 100 hospitals.
"This is a small program now, but we see it growing," said Cassidy, assistant director of the state court family practice division. "We want to offer people every opportunity to apply for an order."
Cassidy said Hospital to Court and the state domestic-abuse law serve victims of both sexes. Although most are women, St. Joseph's recently helped a man, 20, obtain an order barring his father from being near him.
Rapid action
Cassidy said it works like this: When a victim of domestic violence enters a participating hospital, the medical staff asks if she wants to apply for an order of protection against the abuser. If she does, she sits before a video monitor in a private setting, usually in the emergency department, and speaks to a court employee to fill out her petition. She then speaks with a hearing officer or judge, who can fax a proposed order to the hospital for the victim's signature. The judge also sets a date for a court hearing on whether to make the order permanent. And before the victim leaves the hospital, the county sheriff's office is notified to serve the order upon the abuser.
The video service is available from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on weekdays. Miles said St. Joseph's has kept victims overnight until the court opens in the morning to let them apply by video. Cassidy advises hospitals to work with local police departments and women's shelters to assist in cases after hours and on weekends.
Doug Harris, spokesman for Trinitas, said a social worker assists a victim during a video interview. Harris called the program "a seamless opportunity for the victim to speak with a judge … while still in the protected and confidential environment of the hospital."
Jeff Newman, who oversees technology for the statewide program, said New Jersey obtained a $172,000 federal grant to upgrade court information systems with secure connections for the hospital links. Newman said that was the major technological hurdle, allowing most hospitals to set up their own equipment with little expense or complication. Clarke said Saint Peter's already owned the equipment that it installed in a small room in its emergency department when it became a participant in the Hospital to Court program.
John Manke, information coordinator at St. Joseph's, said the hospital staff now can arrange video hookups to the court from other hospital departments, such as labor and delivery, where victims sometimes reveal abuse they have suffered.
Dispelling shame
Sr. Maryanne Campeotto, SC, vice president for mission at St. Joseph's Healthcare System in Paterson, N. J., said the idea grew out of informal discussions between hospital staff and Passaic County court officials in 2008. She said that Judge Stuart Rabner, chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court, became an enthusiastic supporter and has pressed to expand the service statewide.
Sr. Campeotto said the program is consistent with a directive of the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, written in 1859, that instructs hospitals to help "those who through shame would conceal their necessities." She said victims of domestic abuse often are hesitant to discuss their circumstances with strangers.
"St. Joseph's Healthcare System exists to nurture and help people under great stress," Sr. Campeotto said. "Victims of domestic abuse often feel shame and are too embarrassed to discuss their circumstances. Offering this kind of help is at one with who we are."