It's all too easy to jump to conclusions, especially when the limited time you spent with the patient has been portrayed in words to us losing even more information such as body language on the way. It certainly portrays a grim picture of domestic abuse but as you have said "we really have no idea". The problem with a lot of service work is that we don't see an 'end-to-end' picture of an incident or problem. Each person in the chain is encapsulated in their role and don't see the full picture. You just have to do your part and pass it on, hoping someone actually resolves the matter at some point in the chain. Which is why your post a few days ago of treating the attacker and the attacked at different points in the night was so surprising - you got an insight you don't normally see. Anyone intimately involved in a situation should be able to access information through the life of the issue. Be they the victim, wanting to find out details of the attacker's arrest/court appearance/sentence etc; a paramedic/nurse etc who has dealt with someone along the chain and even (as long as proper controls were in place) a good Samaritan who stopped to help. Privacy in some ways has gone so far that any benefits to care which occur through transparency are being lost.