Hospitals' role in evidence gathering

Because of the nature of sexual assaults, DNA evidence often needs to be collected from body cavities, so that must be done by a medical professional. The evidence can include genital, rectal and cheek swabs, pubic and head hair combings, fingernail scrapings, and the victim's underwear, which are boxed for pickup and processing. All of those materials for gathering and testing the evidence are known as a sexual assault evidence kit, or sometimes even a "rape kit."

Hospitals in Missouri are not required to have a certified forensic medical examiner on their staff who could complete the evidence examination for a survivor.

However, MU Health Care has 15 forensically trained nurse examiners at University Hospital and 10 pediatric forensic examiners at Women’s and Children’s Hospital, said Lesli Briggs, who coordinates the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner program at both hospitals. It’s where MU police, Columbia police, and the Boone County Sheriff's Department get most of their kits and where they bring patients who want an exam, which is conducted by a nurse in a private room. It can take up to three hours, Briggs said.

If the person decides to go forward with a law enforcement investigation, the hospital contacts police, who pick the evidence up from the hospital. If the patient doesn’t want police involved right away, the hospital decides how long to keep it.

Briggs said the hospitals hold the kits "for a specified amount of time" and could not be more specific. After that time ends, the hospital contacts the patient who can choose to turn the evidence over to law enforcement for storage, or have it destroyed.

If someone comes to Boone Hospital Center for treatment after a sexual assault, the hospital would refer the person to MU Health Care if the person wanted the evidence gathered. There are no certified sexual assault forensic examiners at the hospital. “We do provide a medical screening examination prior to transfer,” spokesman Ben Cornelius said in an email, adding that evidence could be collected during that exam. In such a case, it is always turned over to law enforcement.

— Anna Brett