U.S. Issues Guidelines for Medical Exams in Sexual Assault Cases

[alp227]

Source: New York Times

On Wednesday, the Department of Justice issued new national guidelines for forensic medical examinations in cases of sexual assault.

The recommendations, revised from those issued in 2004, are aimed at establishing voluntary standards for care when rape victims seek help at hospitals or other medical facilities. The standards will be mandatory for practitioners working in federal prisons or in the military.

The guidelines emphasize that the rape victim’s physical and emotional needs should take precedence over criminal justice considerations.

...

Unlike the 2004 protocol, the new guidelines also recommend that rape victims be offered emergency contraception or — in cases where health professionals have moral objections — information on how to immediately obtain the medication.

...

The guidelines note that many women who are sexually assaulted want to report the rape to the authorities immediately, but that some are reluctant to do so. In such cases, victims should be encouraged to have a forensic medical examination anyway, the protocol recommends, since the evidence can be used later on. “Pressuring these victims to report may discourage their future involvement,” the guidelines state.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/us/us-issues-guidelines-for-medical-exams-in-sexual-assault-cases.html

[rocktivity]

1. In the cases where the health professionals have moral objections

Last edited Wed Apr 24, 2013, 07:17 PM - Edit history (2)

they should lose their jobs.

If people should not be forced to provide care that interferes with their morals, then other people's morals should not be a reason to be denied care.


rocktivity

[idwiyo]

3. +1 They can take their "moral objections" stuff them into their respective arses

and pound them in tight with a piece of old rusty iron.

Fuck You Morals!

[msanthrope]

4. Agreed. nt

[SemperEadem]

2. From what the articles say, the guidlines with regards to those with moral objections

does not go far enough... because some states have said that doctors can lie to women about such thing. No, what needs to be spelled out is that those medical facilities will have on hand and staffed by professionals who WILL be on hand to administer emergency contraception if the woman asks for it and the one with the moral objection must immediately summon that professional and surrender their participation in her case.

In fact, they need to be interviewed about their moral objections before the victim comes in and made to say what they will and will not do in these cases--and sign their name to the document with the full understanding that lying about this will not only be cause for termination, but will be punishable by a crippling fine--and then be kept away from the women unless the woman herself explicitly asks for no kinds of contraception. They should not be rewarded with unfettered ability to interfere in the decision of that woman and /or her family unless it was asked for in the first place.

[olddots]

5. I guess you just don't get raped in the states that don't want to be part of America

we have a moral , cultural and logic war going on in the country .Pretty frightening