Module 5
Medical Forensic Sexual Assault Examinations: What Are They, and What Can They Tell the Courts?

The SANE as a Fact Witness

As a fact witness the treating SANE who conducted the examination may relate the patient’s account of the assault, not to assert that the victim’s account is true per se, but to explain how the account guided the SANE’s medical examination, evidence collection, and discharge and safety planning.

The treating SANE may testify about anything observed or said during the initial examination or any follow-up. The SANE may not offer an opinion as to the cause of any injuries observed.

After the SANE describes his/her own training and experience the treating SANE testifies about what she/he did and what she/he observed in each step of the examination including:

  • Patient’s demeanor at start of and during examination;
  • Patient’s appearance and appearance of clothing on arrival;
  • Why patient was asked to undress while standing on an evidence collection sheet;
  • Bagging clothing for evidence collection kit;
  • Head-to-toe and front and back examination and findings;
  • Photographs of any external injuries;
  • Genital examination and findings;
  • Use of Toluidine blue dye, Colposcope, and/or digital camera to better visualize and record possible genital injuries; and
  • Why and how the SANE swabbed certain body parts for fluid evidence, and how she dried and stored those swabs for collection.

Example: A SANE testifying as a fact witness may testify about bruises observed at various sites on the patient’s body and explain that the SANE asked the patient to return for a follow-up examination to more accurately document the bruising because bruises are not fully visible until a few days after the causation event. The SANE may not offer an opinion about how the injuries were caused.

This module will be available to you as soon as you complete Module 1. To complete a module, you must read each of the lessons and complete the review quiz at the end.

It is important to finish Module 1 so that you have sufficient context for the rest of the program. After that, you'll have full access to jump between lessons however works best for you.

Tip: In the left sidebar, you'll notice a vertical bar of squares. Each square represents a lesson in that module. You can see at a glance which lessons you've done (brightly colored) and which ones you have not (gray).

Return to Module 1