Integration of Medical Legal Services into a Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program: A Survey and Interview-Based Provider Needs Assessment.

BACKGROUND: Violent injury among trauma surgery patients is strongly associated with exposure to harmful social determinants of health and negative long-term health outcomes. Medical-legal partnerships in other settings successfully provide patients with legal services to address similar health-harming legal needs and may offer a promising model for the care of violently-injured patients.

STUDY DESIGN: An electronic survey tool was distributed to clinicians and staff affiliated with the hospital-based violence intervention program at a single urban level one trauma center. Semi-structured follow up interviews were conducted with participants, and interviews were coded using thematic analysis and grounded theory.

RESULTS: Participants reported many health-harming legal needs among their violently injured patients. The most commonly-identified needs were: health insurance denials (62.5%); difficulty accessing crime victims compensation funds (56.3%); trouble accessing official documents (50%); and problems with non-SSDI public benefits (50%). Participants reported inconsistent methods for learning about and responding to patients' health-harming legal needs. The most common barriers to addressing these needs included: lack of awareness that a lawyer could help with the issue (68.8%); prioritization of other needs (68.8%); previous negative legal experiences (62.5%); and cost (62.5%). Identified needs encompass issues traditionally-addressed by MLPs as well as more novel challenges faced by violent injury survivors.

CONCLUSION: This survey and interview-based study identifies complex health-harming legal needs present among violently-injured trauma surgery patients. Medical-legal partnerships specially-designed for the setting of violent injury appear well-suited to meet these needs, potentially reducing risk of violent re-injury, long-term negative health outcomes, and healthcare system costs.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level IV / Prognostic and Epidemiological.