In a Baghdad E.R., Women's Psychological Wounds Go Untreated - NYTimes.com

In a Baghdad E.R., Women's Psychological Wounds Go Untreated - NYTimes.com: During one of my E.R. shifts, a 16-year-old girl was brought in by her aunt and brother, who were both terrified. They asked us not to tell her father that she had tried to kill herself because he would kill her if he knew. She had swallowed 25 diabetes pills. We discovered that her father and her stepmother had subjected her to constant verbal and physical abuse, which is why she wanted to end her life. She arrived in critical condition with very low blood sugar. But with our care she recovered. Then, we discharged her — back to the abuse she had tried to flee.