Citation

Tsai SL, Acosta E, Cardenas T, Sigall JK, Van Geem K. Ann. Emerg. Med. 2017; 70(1): 72-79.

Affiliation

Program for the Protection of Human Subjects, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, American College of Emergency Physicians, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.annemergmed.2016.12.002

PMID

28238498

Abstract

Rapes involving adolescents who present to the emergency department (ED) are fraught with ethical and legal complexities and are often emotionally turbulent for patients, their families, and medical providers. Management requires a thoughtful approach from multiple standpoints, including legal, psychosocial, ethical, and medical ones. However, there is no standardized sexual assault education for emergency medicine residents, and management practices vary widely.(1,2) We present a hypothetical statutory rape case based on real cases that occurred in New York City and bring together the perspectives of an attorney on the legal parameters, two social workers on the psychosocial issues, an ethicist on the moral considerations, and a pediatric emergency physician-who is also a sexual assault forensic examiner-on the medical treatments. We aim to provide a framework for physicians to navigate issues of patient-physician privilege involving minors, privacy rules, and mandatory reporting laws.

Copyright © 2016 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Language: en