Sexual aSSault LEGAL ADVOCACY MANUAL - Texas Association ...

iv. Medical Forensic Examinations
What is a Medical Forensic Examination?
A medical forensic examination (sometimes called a sexual assault examination) is a medical procedure
typically conducted by a nurse, a physician, or a specially trained nurse called a Sexual Assault Nurse
Examiner (SANE) or a Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner (SAFE).
The Code of Criminal Procedure gives sexual assault survivors a legal entitlement to an exam at medical
facilities in their communities. (p. 25, Crime Victims’ Rights) There are only a couple restrictions on who
is entitled to an exam. First, the survivor must request the exam within 96 hours (4 days) of the assault.
Second, if a victim who reports a sexual assault to police has previously made a false report of sexual
assault to a law enforcement agency, and there is no corroborating evidence of the present assault, police
may decline to request a sexual assault exam for that person (Tex. Code Crim. Proc. § 56.06(a)).
Aside from those two exceptions, any survivor of sexual assault has the right to a sexual assault
exam (Tex. Code Crim. Proc. § 56.03(a)(14)).
The purpose of a medical forensic exam is to provide medical treatment to sexual assault survivors while
collecting evidence of the crime. Thus, as its name suggests, the exam has two parts: the medical portion
and the forensic portion. The distinction is especially important for payment purposes, as explained at the
end of this section.
The word “forensic” signals that something is related to proving a fact in a court of law. Accordingly, the
forensic portion of the sexual assault exam refers to anything related to collecting evidence of the crime.
These are the things the police and prosecutor will use later to try to identify and convict the attacker.
Photographs of injuries, samples of the attacker’s hair or bodily fluids, clothing fibers, and a toxicology
test are all typical examples.
On the other hand, the medical portion is the opposite. It includes everything the nurse or physician does
purely for the survivor’s medical treatment, having nothing to do with collecting evidence of the crime. If
the survivor needs medication, prophylaxes to stop sexually transmitted infections, stitches, or treatment
for any other injury, that treatment is available to the survivor as part of the medical portion of the exam.
Examples of Medical and Forensic Services
Medical Portion
Forensic Portion
• Medications
• Stitches
• STI prophylaxis
• Treatment for sprains or broken bones
• Emergency room services
• Taking samples of hair or bodily fluids
• Photographs of injuries
• Taking samples of clothing fibers
left on the survivor
• Toxicology test for rape-facilitating drugs
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