While society is awash in a wide array of hurtful behavior these days, none is more poisonous than domestic violence. It is not love gone awry, it is personal oppression and tyranny. Domestic violence is the attempt by one person to control another person he or she claims to care about, utilizing any means necessary. It is not a mental health issue any more than hunger is an economic issue.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, as designated by President Clinton in 1995, and programs and events will be held this month to focus the public’s attention on this continuing problem.

In Maine, domestic violence is a public health emergency. Spousal murder-suicides now account for half the yearly murders in this state. Battering is the leading cause of injury for women, more than the number injured by automobile accidents, muggings and rapes combined. One-third of all visits to hospital emergency rooms by female patients are the result of physical abuse by a partner.

The Family Violence Prevention Fund, a non-profit national advocacy group, is sponsoring Oct. 14 as the first annual Health Care Providers Respond to Domestic Violence Day. The group’s intent is to encourage health providers to begin to routinely screen their patients for domestic violence.

A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that less than 10 percent of primary care physicians routinely ask questions about domestic violence during regular office visits. Nor are physicians alone in failing to investigate the possibility of abuse. Renee Speh, executive director of The Next Step Domestic Violence Project of Hancock County, believes health care providers can become a kind of early warning system for family violence. “Health providers are on the front line and they may see abuse before anyone else does,” she said recently. “They are in the position to identify and offer support to help victims access resources they may need.”

The nine programs that make up the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence, including Spruce Run in Bangor, are to be commended for their years of effort to increase public awareness about domestic abuse. But more needs to be done. Health providers can provide additional eyes and ears for a moral community interested in protecting its injured and vulnerable.