Some doctors should routinely ask their female patients about domestic violence, new professional guidelines suggest.

The Canadian Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has come up with the consensus statement to help its members and other clinicians to evaluate the risk of violence in their patients' lives, and to intervene.

Statistics show about 40 per cent of cases of violence against women are revealed when a woman sees a doctor because she's pregnant, the society said.

The society developed the guidelines because it says living with violence at home can have a major impact on women's health.

Women who are living with the stress of being hurt or threatened by their partners are less likely to go for pap smears and mammograms and to take care of their health, statistics show.

They are also at much greater risk of dying than a pregnant woman with an obstetrical complication, said Dr. Vyta Senikas, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Montreal.

Reducing the risk of violence in their patients' lives has to become part of an obstetrician-gynecologist's routine, said Senikas, who is an executive member of her specialty's national organization.

"When you pick up newspapers and look at the results of intimate partner violence, you have to sit back and say as advocates for women's health we are obliged to address this problem," said Senikas. "Ethically speaking, [we] should provide that service for the patient."

The society has come up with a framework to help doctors learn how to ask the right questions. It also addresses how to assess the risk if abuse has been disclosed, and how to help patients to find the resources they need to escape the violence.

Montreal's Shield of Athena Family Service is one of the resources women can use. Spokesperson Melpa Kamateros welcomed the new consensus guidelines.

"They're not only going to have to diagnose the medical symptoms and tie them together, they're going to have to provide a diagnosis of a possible case of conjugal violence," said Kamateros.