When patients arrive at the hospital after experiencing violence, they’re typically visited by doctors and nurses at their bedside. But according to new research, there’s another professional who can play a crucial role in their recovery: a lawyer.
People recovering from violent injuries often grapple with legal and financial challenges that can significantly affect their healing process.
At the University of Chicago Medical Center, the nation’s first medical-legal partnership embedded directly within a trauma center is making a real difference. Known as the Recovery Legal Care program, it supports patients by addressing their legal concerns while medical professionals focus on their physical health. Researchers shared their findings on October 16 in JAMA Network Open.
“Most of the time, when people talk about recovery from violent injury, they’re thinking medical care,” senior researcher Dr. Tanya Zakrison, a professor of surgery at the University of Chicago, said in a news release.
“But what if a patient is about to be evicted, or can’t feed their children, or can’t get a job because of an old criminal record?” she said. “Unless we address those financial and legal needs — the root causes that predispose individuals to violence in the first place — healing can’t really happen.”
The program proved remarkably effective. Researchers discovered in their analysis of over 1,000 patients that approximately 95% of trauma patients had at least one legal issue the program could help with.
“Seeing that almost 95% of patients had legal needs was astonishing,” lead researcher Dr. Elizabeth Tung, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, said in a news release.