van Veenendaal E
Med Law. 1993;12(1-2):25-8.
Violence in family relationships has a long history. In what form and how often it occurs may vary with the social environment. Public interest in these matters is still growing. When medical professionals are confronted with child abuse, they have to treat such knowledge confidentially. In this respect, medical secrecy is a major handicap to recording the number of cases of child abuse and to organizing efficient assistance. The Netherlands has tackled the dilemma by instituting the so-called Confidential Medical Centres dedicated to helping abused children. In this way, cases of child abuse can be pinpointed more efficiently and treated with more care, and the child's interests are allowed to prevail above medical secrecy.
家庭关系中的暴力行为由来已久。其表现形式和发生频率可能因社会环境而异。公众对这些问题的关注度仍在不断提高。当医疗专业人员面对虐待儿童的情况时，他们必须对这类信息保密。在这方面，医疗保密制度严重阻碍了对虐待儿童案件数量的记录以及有效援助的组织。荷兰通过设立所谓的保密医疗中心来应对这一困境，这些中心致力于帮助受虐待儿童。通过这种方式，可以更有效地查明虐待儿童的案件并给予更精心的治疗，而且儿童的利益被置于医疗保密之上。
