Bill Text: CT HB06443 | 2011 | General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: An Act Concerning Health Care Services Provided To Victims Of Sexual Assault.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-02-25 - Public Hearing 03/02 [HB06443 Detail]

Download: Connecticut-2011-HB06443-Introduced.html

General Assembly

 

Raised Bill No. 6443

January Session, 2011

 

LCO No. 3818

 

*03818_______PH_*

Referred to Committee on Public Health

 

Introduced by:

 

(PH)

 

AN ACT CONCERNING HEALTH CARE SERVICES PROVIDED TO VICTIMS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. Section 19a-112a of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2011):

(a) There is created a Commission on the Standardization of the Collection of Evidence in Sexual Assault Investigations composed of fourteen members as follows: The Chief State's Attorney or a designee; the executive director of the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women or a designee; the Commissioner of Children and Families or a designee; one member from the Division of State Police and one member from the Division of Scientific Services appointed by the Commissioner of Public Safety; one member from Connecticut Sexual Assault Crisis Services, Inc. appointed by its board of directors; one member from the Connecticut Hospital Association appointed by the president of the association; one emergency physician appointed by the president of the Connecticut College of Emergency Physicians; one obstetrician-gynecologist and one pediatrician appointed by the president of the Connecticut State Medical Society; one nurse appointed by the president of the Connecticut Nurses' Association; one emergency nurse appointed by the president of the Emergency Nurses' Association of Connecticut; and one police chief appointed by the president of the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association. The Chief State's Attorney or a designee shall be chairman of the commission. The commission shall be within the Division of Criminal Justice for administrative purposes only.

(b) (1) For the purposes of this section, "protocol" means the state of Connecticut Technical Guidelines for Health Care Response to Victims of Sexual Assault, including the Interim Sexual Assault Toxicology Screen Protocol, as revised from time to time and as incorporated in regulations adopted in accordance with subdivision (2) of this subsection, pertaining to the collection of evidence in any sexual assault investigation.

(2) The commission shall recommend the protocol to the Chief State's Attorney for adoption as regulations in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54. Such protocol shall include nonoccupational post-exposure prophylaxis for human immunodeficiency virus (nPEP), as recommended by the National Centers for Disease Control. The commission shall annually review the protocol and may annually recommend changes to the protocol for adoption as regulations.

(c) The commission shall design a sexual assault evidence collection kit and may annually recommend changes in the kit to the Chief State's Attorney. Each kit shall include instructions on the proper use of the kit, standardized reporting forms, standardized tests which shall be performed if the victim so consents and standardized receptacles for the collection and preservation of evidence. The commission shall provide the kits to all health care facilities in the state at which evidence collection examinations are performed at no cost to such health care facilities.

(d) Each health care facility in the state which provides for the collection of sexual assault evidence shall follow the protocol as described in subsection (b) of this section and, with the consent of the victim, shall collect sexual assault evidence. Upon determining a victim's eligibility for nonoccupational post-exposure prophylaxis for human immunodeficiency virus (nPEP), a sexual assault forensic examiner, as defined in section 19a-112g, shall provide the victim with a card that the victim shall present to a pharmacist when obtaining the nPEP. The card shall guarantee payment to the pharmacist for the nPEP by the Office of Victim Services from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund established under section 54-215. The health care facility shall contact a police department which shall transfer evidence collected pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, in a manner that maintains the integrity of the evidence, to the Division of Scientific Services within the Department of Public Safety or the Federal Bureau of Investigation laboratory. The agency that receives such evidence shall hold that evidence for sixty days after such collection, except that, if the victim reports the sexual assault to the police, the evidence shall be analyzed upon request of the police department that transferred the evidence to such agency and held by the agency or police department until the conclusion of any criminal proceedings.

(e) (1) No costs incurred by a health care facility for the examination of a victim of sexual assault, when such examination is performed for the purpose of gathering evidence as prescribed in the protocol, including the costs of testing for pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases and the costs of prophylactic treatment as provided in the protocol, shall be charged directly or indirectly to such victim. Any such costs shall be charged to the Office of Victim Services within the Judicial Department.

(2) No costs incurred by a health care facility for any toxicology screening of a victim of sexual assault, when such screening is performed as prescribed in the protocol, shall be charged directly or indirectly to such victim. Any such costs shall be charged to the Division of Scientific Services within the Department of Public Safety.

(f) The commission shall advise the Chief State's Attorney on the establishment of a mandatory training program for health care facility staff regarding the implementation of the regulations, the use of the evidence collection kit and procedures for handling evidence.

(g) The commission shall advise the Chief State's Attorney not later than July 1, 1997, on the development of a sexual assault examiner program and annually thereafter on the implementation and effectiveness of such program.

This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:

Section 1

October 1, 2011

19a-112a

Statement of Purpose:

To ensure that victims of sexual assault are provided nonoccupational post-exposure prophylaxis for human immunodeficiency virus (nPEP), when prescribed by a sexual assault forensic examiner.

[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]

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