Protection of patients against violence in medical institutions and the need for general safeguarding measures

• Published in: European child & adolescent psychiatry Vol. 31; no. 9; pp. 1337 - 1339
• Main Authors: Hoffmann, Ulrike, Svedin, C. G., Anagnostopoulus, D., Raynaud, J. P., Räberg Christensen, A. M., Fegert, Jörg M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.09.2022; Springer Nature B.V; Springer Verlag (Germany)
• Subjects: Aggression; Child; Child & adolescent psychiatry; Child Abuse / prevention & control; Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; Editorial; Humans; Life Sciences; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Psychiatry; Violence / prevention & control
• ISSN: 1018-8827; 1435-165X; 1435-165X
• DOI: 10.1007/s00787-022-02007-5

In the last decades, sexual abuse and violence in institutions against minors has been a repeated topic of discussion in politics and among experts in the field in Germany. The alleged abuse scandal in 2010 marks a central event. At that time, sexual abuse in institutions became public again starting in January 2010. This was mainly due to the confession made by the Canisius College in Berlin admitting that cases of sexual abuse had been covered up in the institution for years. Subsequently, cases also became known from other Catholic institutions. At the end of February 2010, it was reveiled that the former director had sexually abused pupils during his years of service at the Odenwaldschule Oberhambach, which was one of the flagship projects of reform pedagogy. In the course of 2010, other teachers of this school and other institutions of reform pedagogy were accused of having committed sexual assaults. These revelations about the scope and severity of past cases of child sexual abuse in German institutions set off a broad public debate. The debate led to the establishment of a politically appointed Round Table committee and an Independent Commissioner whose mandates were to reappraise the issue and develop recommendations for future policies. The Round Table Committee demanded that structural measures be implemented in institutions to protect children and adolescents from (sexual) abuse. In Germany, these measures are summarized as “Schutzkonzepte” (Safeguarding measures). The goal of these measures is to better ensure the protection of children and adolescents from sexual abuse and violence in an institution. In its final report, the Round Table Committee defined components for the safeguarding measures (see Table 1) and recommended the implementation of these measures to all institutions.