Sexual Health | Sexual assault/abuse and medicolegal issues | Medico-legal Issues

Medico-legal Issues
Session Overview
Description
This session covers forensic sampling and some medico-legal issues for adolescent and adult victims of sexual assault.

Learning Objectives
By the end of this session you will be able to:

• Identify the forensic timeframes and samples that can be taken for analysis by a forensic service provider following acute sexual assault (including preservation of evidence and documentation of injuries)
• Describe the rationale behind the chain of evidence protocol and be familiar with its use in a sexual health setting
• Recognise the importance of contemporaneous documentation and its relevance for the writing of medico-legal reports and the criminal justice system
• State the principles surrounding consent and disclosure of medical records

Prerequisites
Before commencing this session you should have completed:

• Module 1/Sexual Behaviour and Infection Risk (260-0001)
• Module 8/Sexual Assault and Exploitation in Adults (260-0090)
• Module 8/Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) (260-0091)
• Module 8/Consent, Competence and Confidentiality for Under 18s (260-0092)
• Module 8/Clinical Management of Sexual Assault in Adults and Young People (260-0095)
• Module 8/Clinical Management of Child Sexual Abuse (260-0096)

Sexual assault and rape are common in all societies affecting children, young people and adults although most experiences remain undisclosed.

If an individual opts to make a disclosure in a sexual health setting, you must know and understand the options available to them. This includes being clear, early in the consultation, on the boundaries around confidentiality if child or adult support and protection issues are disclosed or ongoing significant risk to another.

Conveying information on persistence data of potential evidence and the process of forensic sampling will assist an individual in making informed choices including whether or not to engage with the criminal justice system.

Persistence data advises on the latest time for collection of biological forensic evidence; however, sampling at the earliest opportunity is always the safest way of preserving potential evidence. Other evidence potentially beyond this includes clothing articles and some injuries.