VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- It costs Canadian taxpayers and charities about $7 billion a year to help women who leave their abusive partners, researchers calculated.

Professor of nursing Colleen Varcoe of the University of British Columbia colleagues and comprehensively identified the economic costs for services used by women who leave a violent partner.


The study, published in the journal Canadian Public Policy, determined the cost of health, legal and social services for women who have left a violent partner comes to $13,162 per woman for hospitalization, X-rays, doctors visits, legal aid, children protection worker, unemployment insurance, social assistance, dentist, counseling and food bank use.

"We found that food banks account for a staggering 80 percent of the non-health, private, third-party costs, which in this case are borne by charitable organizations," Varcoe said in a statement.

"What our findings make clear is that 'leaving' is not a panacea -- in pointing out the economics of violence, we are also showing the human costs which are incalculable."

Healthcare was also pricey. The study also estimated women who have left violent partners went to emergency units 24 times per month -- at $180 per visit -- as compared with the Canadian female of the same age group of one ER visit per month and 1.9 physician visits -- at $47 per visit -- per month compared to the norm of 0.37 physician visits per month.