MbShea@PWP@English@UMCP

PROBLEM STATEMENT
According to a U.S. State Department TIPS report in 2006, 14,500 to 17,500 people are trafficked annually in the United States (Bales, 2009). This is a large number of new slaves each year and doesn’t even account for the thousands of homegrown slaves. This is an issue that isn’t going away, the Human Trafficking Hotline, the national human trafficking victim service program, has already seen 5,389 cases with high indication of human trafficking and 5,254 cases with moderate indication of human trafficking for the months of January-June in 2017 alone (humantraffickinghotline.org). The problem is that human trafficking victims are not readily visible in society; it is our human duty to recognize the signs of human trafficking and find ways to assist the victims. Healthcare professionals encounter victims of human trafficking in the Emergency Room, family medicine, and countless other disciplines. But, are these victims recognized and protected by healthcare professionals? Healthcare professionals need an understanding of the scope of human trafficking so they can identify human trafficking victims and take steps to aid in their protection. With recommendations on how to provide services to victims under the scope of healthcare, healthcare professionals can do their part in protecting victims from further abuse.
ABSTRACT
Human trafficking is an occult cancer in our country today, hidden in plain sight. According to a U.S. State Department TIPS report in 2006, an estimated 14,500 to 17,500 people are trafficking annually in the United States. Slaves grown domestically account for thousands more of trafficking cases. Whether it be sex, labor, or organ trafficking, a person is being used for services without being paid adequately or at all, the modern form of slavery. The health care system is one of the few branches of society that has the chance to interact with the trafficking victims, and therefore it is instrumental in leading to a reduction in victimization. Health care professionals should be able to identify and provide resources to those caught in the web of human trafficking. In the following article, the scope of human trafficking in the United States and the D.C. Metropolitan Area is defined to provide a context for health care professionals to work through. Strategies to identify human trafficking victims will be presented in the hope they provide doctors a tool to do their part to reduce trafficking. Recommendations on how to properly assist victims as well as sample dialogues will be introduced so that health care professionals will understand how to properly deploy resources to victims.
READER’S PROFILE
Skeptical readers of this piece would probably include older doctors. Male and female doctors would react rather similarly, as research has shown that women actually react more negatively towards women trafficking victims. Older doctors would be more likely to be out of touch with new social issues like human trafficking and more likely to think that the victim “got themselves into it”.
RESPONSE
5300 cases for a population of over 3 million? Why should I care about a problem that isn’t going to affect most of my patients when I should be worrying about their health? I don’t believe that my talents would be put to good use in identifying trafficking victims, this would take time away from diagnosis and treatment of other patients. Isn’t this a problem more suited for child protective services or the department of labor?

B, be sure to use a cite about the differential between women and men not acting similarly toward presence of trafficking victims.

Did you find medical history sources that can help you conclude with sample questions and scripts?

Are these sources in your bibliography?

Recognizing victims of human trafficking in the pediatric emergency department.
Becker HJ et al. Pediatr Emerg Care. (2015)

Health implications of human trafficking.
Richards TA et al. Nurs Womens Health. (2014)

Human trafficking and health: a cross-sectional survey of NHS professionals' contact with victims of human trafficking.
Ross C et al. BMJ Open. (2015)