Non-Military Patients

Non-military patients are defined as all patients presenting to any facility (civilian or military installation) who are not active-duty service members (ADSM).

Sexual assault patients shall have a team of support in the community, including but not limited to:

• Community-based advocates,
• Law enforcement officers,
• SANEs, physicians or nurses trained in sexual assault medical forensic evidence collection,
• Law enforcement victim service advocates, and
• District Attorney’s Office personnel, legal victim advocates and attorneys.

A sexual assault “response team” is a “multidisciplinary team established to strengthen the collaborative response and enhance health and judicial outcomes for sexual assault survivors” (Texas Local Government Code §351.251). Commissioners’ courts of each county shall establish sexual assault response teams (Texas Local Government Code §351.251).

All patients (adults, adolescents, and children) have the right to choose who will be present in the room with them during the sexual assault examination. Examiners should consider patients’ physical and psychological safety and ability to be forthcoming about their experiences if others (including parents or caregivers) are present in the room. Use best clinical judgment when considering who is present during the medical forensic history and examination. Ideally, those present in the exam room, in addition to the patient, should be limited to a support person of the patient’s choice (family, friend, etc.), community-based advocate from the local sexual assault program as defined by Texas Government Code §420.003, who has completed a sexual assault training program described by §420.011(b) and the sexual assault nurse examiner or the medical doctor or nurse trained in sexual assault forensic collection. However, the patient’s support person may be asked to testify in legal proceedings.

It is important that all SART members are versed in the community sexual assault response protocols to provide a collaborative approach. Law enforcement officers and law enforcement victim advocates should not be present during the medical forensic assessment. The medical forensic assessment is for medical diagnosis and treatment purposes. The presence of law enforcement personnel may alter the purpose of that assessment. It may also inhibit the patients’ comfort to communicate private health-impacting information, which may alter the outcome of the patient assessment. “Law enforcement representatives should not be present during the exam” (DoJ, 2013, p. 41).