Citation

Carr ME, Moettus AL. J. Law Med. Ethics 2010; 38(3): 647-653.

Affiliation

Emergency Medicine physician at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, Minnesota Emergency Medicine physician at the University of Minnesota, Fairview.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1748-720X.2010.00518.x

PMID

20880247

Abstract

Sexual assault examinations consist of a medical evaluation and forensic evidence collection. Usually the patient signs a consent form allowing the examination to occur. Occasionally circumstances exist that render a patient unable to give consent for this examination. Such circumstances include young age, mental health disease, cognitive delay, or drug/alcohol ingestion. This article provides suggestions for developing a policy allowing a sexual assault examination to be conducted without patient consent. A sample of such a policy is provided.

Language: en