Citation

Stoklosa H, MacGibbon M, Stoklosa J. AMA J. Ethics 2017; 19(1): 23-34.

Affiliation

Instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in Boston, and the assistant program director for the MGH/McLean Adult Psychiatry Residency Training Program and the clinical director of McLean Hospital's Psychotic Disorders Division.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, American Medical Association)

DOI

10.1001/journalofethics.2017.19.1.ecas3-1701

PMID

28107153

Abstract

This article reviews an emergency department-based clinical vignette of a trafficked patient with co-occurring pregnancy-related, mental health, and substance use disorder issues. The authors, including a survivor of human trafficking, draw on their backgrounds in addiction care, human trafficking, emergency medicine, and psychiatry to review the literature on relevant general health and mental health consequences of trafficking and propose an approach to the clinical complexities this case presents. In their discussion, the authors explicate the deleterious role of implicit bias and diagnostic overshadowing in trafficked patients with co-occurring addiction and mental illness. Finally, the authors propose a trauma-informed, multidisciplinary response to potentially trafficked patients.

© 2017 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.

Language: en