Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examinations
Exam and Evidence Collection Procedures
Recommendations at a glance for health care providers to facilitate the exam and evidence collection:
- Recognize the forensic purpose of the exam to document physical findings and facilitate the collection of evidence from patients.
- Strive to collect as much evidence from patients as possible, guided by the scope of informed consent, the medical forensic history, examination findings, and evidence collection kit instructions.
- Be aware of evidence that may be pertinent to the issue of whether the patient consented to the sexual contact with the suspect.
- Understand how biological evidence is tested.
- Prevent exposure to infectious materials and contamination of evidence.
- Understand the implications of the presence or absence of seminal evidence.
- Modify the exam and evidence collection to address the specific needs and concerns of patients.
- Explain exam and evidence collection procedures to patients.
- Conduct the general physical and anogenital exam and document findings on body diagram forms.
- Collect evidence to submit to the crime lab for analysis, according to jurisdictional policy. Collect blood and/or urine for toxicology screening if applicable.
- Keep medical specimens separate from forensic specimens collected during the exam.
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