SOME FINDINGS SOME FINDINGS The survey of ER doctors found: 65.3% of the doctors estimated they had encountered "two or more" cases of suspected police abuse per year.

of the doctors estimated they had encountered "two or more" cases of suspected police abuse per year.



1.3% believed that excessive force occurred "very often."

believed that excessive force occurred "very often."



54.3% thought excessive force occurred often or "sometimes." Nearly 98% of emergency room physicians report that they believe some patients were victims of suspected excessive force by police, a national survey concludes. Yet most of the suspected incidents went unreported because no laws require physicians to alert authorities. The survey of 315 physicians, contained in the Emergency Medicine Journal's January issue and based on 2002 data, is believed to be the first doctors' account of suspected police brutality, says H. Range Hutson, the lead author and assistant professor of emergency medicine at Harvard. BETTER LIFE: More on doctor ethics, hospital staffing The responses were based on interactions with patients who were brought in by police or who said officers caused their injuries. Ninety-five percent of the doctors reported injuries caused by fists and feet. Hutson says the survey and analysis of findings were in the works for years. National police groups challenged the survey, saying it would be hard for physicians to know if injuries resulted from excessive force if they were not present during the encounters. Unlike cases of suspected domestic violence, elderly abuse and child abuse, which doctors must report to authorities, physicians are not required to notify anyone of suspected excessive force by police, Hutson says. The report says the findings suggest national emergency medicine groups and police should develop guidelines for "this complex issue." Criminal justice analysts say the survey represents an important new source of information. "Excessive force is a huge issue," says Geoff Alpert, a criminologist at the University of South Carolina. "This is another angle on excessive force that hasn't been looked at." Hutson says the survey does not necessarily mean abuse is rampant. Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, the nation's largest police union, says ER doctors "have no way of knowing what amount of force was required" in encounters with suspects. Jim McMahon, chief of staff for the International Association of Chiefs of Police, also questions how physicians would know if the "injuries constituted excessive force." If doctors are concerned, he says, hospitals should establish policies for reporting the incidents to local agencies. "I would think that hospitals, from a liability standpoint, would have a policy to report it," he says. Justice Department statistics show federal prosecutors are pursuing more abuse cases in which law enforcement officers allegedly used excessive force. Prosecutors filed 281 such cases from 2001 to 2007, up from 224 in the previous seven years. "The fear among police is that any kind of reporting will go against them," says University of Pittsburgh law professor David Harris, who analyzes police behavior. "It's time to put that notion aside." Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more