Sex abuse: Doctor treats women, and believes them

I have been a practicing family doctor in Pierce County for 36 years. I have taken care of many women who are the victims of sexual abuse.

I have no doubt that the statistics of one in three or four are correct, as it is consistent with my experience. Further, late reporting of abuse is very common.

I have often been the first person a woman has told about her history of abuse, often decades after the incident. Depression, chronic anxiety and PTSD are often the result.

It is not uncommon for victims not to remember many details of the episodes. After being traumatized, one’s memory can be cloudy. That does not mean the episode did not occur or that the victim’s identification of the perpetrator is inaccurate.

We need to honor and protect our daughters, spouses, mothers and all women. They need to believe they can come forward and that their stories will be heard and believed and that their medical and mental health problems will be attended to.

They need to know also that justice will be done.