Domestic violence against women.

To the Editor. —Our experience with a multidisciplinary program bringing law students and practicing lawyers into an urban emergency department suggests another measure that might be incorporated into the research and evaluation of violence: narrative from affected patients. We obtain this information in the context of enhancing available services to battered women presenting on Friday and Saturday evenings. The legal team provides assistance in obtaining emergency temporary restraining orders against batterers directly from the emergency department without requiring the affected women to proceed out of the hospital to a police station or courthouse. In addition, we offer our injured or fearful patients continuity of legal services by providing a legal advocate from the same program to meet them in one of the local courts the following business day to transform the temporary restraining order into a full 1-year protective order. Our incidence of women presenting with acute injury as a