Medical Perspectives on Human Trafficking in Adolescents

Human trafficking is an increasingly large issue in medicine, particularly for the adolescent population. The pubertal and neurologic development of early- and mid-adolescence may serves as a foothold for trauma bonds and human trafficking. To date, there are few case studies of human trafficking in the medical literature. More often, these cases are missed, and human trafficking patients are unlikely to disclose their victimization to their physicians for multiple reasons. As a result, physicians fail to ask key questions and fail to notice important red flags for human trafficking. Research shows that this is primarily due to a lack of medical training and awareness and a resultant denial on the part of many physicians that victims of human trafficking present to their clinics or specialties.
This book provides clinicians with a case-based guide to scenarios they may encounter in their practice that involve human trafficking. These cases include those involving sex trafficking and labor trafficking; male and female and transgender victims; victims from a range of racial, ethnic, geographic and socioeconomic backgrounds; as well as presentations of adolescent and young adult victims to fields such as adolescent medicine, general pediatrics, neonatology, rheumatology, transplant medicine, and obstetrics-gynecology, in addition to the stereotypical presentations to emergency departments.
Each case is followed by a discussion that highlights key aspects of human trafficking in adolescent and young adult patients. These discussions also reference the growing body of research on human trafficking, orient the reader to medico-legal aspects of reporting human trafficking in the adolescent and young adult populations, and feature useful questions, exercises, and resources to promote discussion among those medical professionals who interact with adolescent medicine and young adult patients.
Written by physicians, legal advocates and lawyers, Medical Perspectives on Human Trafficking in Adolescents is the definitive guide for all clinicians who care for adolescent patients. It is also a useful resource for mental health professionals and social workers.
About the Author:

Kanani Titchen, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego in the Division of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics at Rady Children's Hospital. She formerly was director of Adolescent Medicine at St. Barnabas Hospital System in Bronx, NY, and has trained with GEMS (Girls Educational & Mentoring Services), Sanctuary for Families, HEAL Trafficking, and the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services. Dr. Titchen has spoken on television news, public radio, and TEDx about the need for a trauma-informed approach for working with trafficking victims and survivors. Through the Physicians Against the Trafficking of Humans with the American Medical Women's Association, she has conducted CME-accredited human trafficking trainings at hospital systems nationwide and produced an online video tutorial to teach healthcare professionals about sex trafficking. She has authored articles about human trafficking for medical journals, textbooks, and the lay press. Dr. Titchen holds an MD from Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University where she also completed her pediatrics residency, and she is a graduate of Montefiore's fellowship in Adolescent Medicine.

Elizabeth Miller, MD, PhD, is chief of Adolescent Medicine at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, and professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Trained in medical anthropology as well as internal medicine and pediatrics, Dr. Miller's research has included examination of sex trafficking among adolescents in Asia, teen dating abuse, and reproductive health, with a focus on underserved youth populations including pregnant and parenting teens; and foster, homeless, and gang-affiliated youth. Her current research focuses on the impact of gender-based violence on young women's reproductive health. She conducts research on brief clinical interventions to reduce partner violence and unintended pregnancy, funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the National Institute of Justice. In addition, she is conducting a study of a sexual violence prevention program entitled; Coaching Boys into Men; which involves training coaches to talk to their young male athletes about stopping violence against women, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She is also involved in projects to reduce gender-based violence and improve adolescent and young adult women;s health in India and Japan.