The Providence Journal describes a case that raises questions about medical privacy laws. The bruises, the cuts, the teeth knocked out of her mouth — each time, Tara DiCarlo of Providence told her family and doctors that she fell. Even when her boyfriend, Ronald Correia, admitted to beating her and served a few months on home confinement, the 22-year-old woman blamed herself. Last month, she fell from a third-floor fire escape.
Her stepfather and mother were sure that this was no accident. It took hours for the hospital to call police; it would take days, and unrelenting pressure from DiCarlo's parents, for the hospital to talk to the police about her injuries. Police say that without DiCarlo's parents battling for her at the hospital, she would have just been a woman who fell. Instead, her boyfriend is accused of cracking her skull with a 9-pound metal step from the fire escape.