Citation

Murty OP. J. Forensic Leg. Med. 2009; 16(5): 290-296.

Affiliation

Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University Technology Malaysia, MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia. dropmurty@yahoo.co.in

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jflm.2008.12.020

PMID

19481715

Abstract

Domestic maid violence is an assault and coercive behaviour, which mainly includes physical, psychological and at times sexual too, by employer or household members of employer against a person hired as a domestic help. Maid abuse is well known but poorly documented in scientific literature. This is an important global issue. In this article, two illustrated cases of maid abuse are discussed. Their employers allegedly subjected both the victims to physical and psychological trauma. The physical examination of the victims showed poor state of clothing, nutrition, and presence of injuries of different duration. The bruises were irregular to patterned, and were inflicted by beating. Both cases had eczematous contact dermatitis over palms and soles, paronechia, and sub-ungal fungal infection due to unprotected working in wet conditions. In both cases, external ears were deformed like cauliflowers due to repeated trauma. All cases had multiple injuries of varying duration. In this paper, medico-legal and social issues related to maid abuse are also discussed in detail. A possible solution to minimise maid abuse is also suggested. This paper highlights and document maid abuse.

Language: en