ABSTRACT
Telecommunication assisted forensic assessments of capacity and mistreatment by geriatricians with expertise in elder abuse and self-neglect are helping to meet the demand for such forensic services for Adult Protective Services (APS) clients in remote and underserved areas of Texas. The use of synchronous audiovisual assisted interviews instead of in-person interviews with clients to provide capacity assessments has become more important with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is growing interest in establishing similar programs in other states using geriatrician faculty from medical schools to serve the clients of their state Adult Protective Services agencies. The arrangement between APS and the geriatricians at McGovern Medical School in Houston, Texas is novel. The structure of the arrangement is important for the success of the program. Legal, ethical, and practical considerations are discussed in this article, including approaches to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, physician liability, state law, and resource limitations. It is hoped that sharing how one such collaboration has addressed these important issues will suggest approaches for the structuring of similar programs.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Elder Abuse , Forensic Medicine , Geriatric Assessment/methods , Telemedicine , Aged , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19/prevention & control , Communicable Disease Control/methods , Elder Abuse/diagnosis , Elder Abuse/ethics , Elder Abuse/legislation & jurisprudence , Elder Abuse/prevention & control , Forensic Medicine/ethics , Forensic Medicine/legislation & jurisprudence , Forensic Medicine/methods , Humans , Organizational Innovation , Program Evaluation , SARS-CoV-2 , Telecommunications/organization & administration , Telemedicine/ethics , Telemedicine/legislation & jurisprudence , Telemedicine/methods , United States/epidemiology , Vulnerable PopulationsABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has contributed to an increase in intimate partner violence (IPV), posing challenges to health care providers who must protect themselves and others during sexual assault examinations. Victims of sexual assault encountered in prehospital and emergency department (ED) settings have legal as well as medical needs. A series of procedures must be carefully followed to facilitate forensic evidence collection and law enforcement investigation. A literature review detected a paucity of published guidance on the management of sexual assault patients in the ED, and no information specific to COVID-19. OBJECTIVE: Investigators sought to update the San Diego County sexual assault guidelines, created in collaboration with health care professionals, forensic specialists, and law enforcement, through a consensus iterative review process. An additional objective was to create a SAFET-I Tool for use by frontline providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. DISCUSSION: The authors present a novel SAFET-I Tool that outlines the following five components of effective sexual assault patient care: stabilization, alert system activation, forensic evidence consideration, expedited post-assault treatment, and trauma-informed care. This framework can be used as an educational tool and template for agencies interested in developing or adapting existing sexual assault policies. CONCLUSIONS: There is a lack of clinical guidance for ED providers that integrates the many aspects of sexual assault patient care, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. A SAFET-I Tool is presented to assist emergency health care providers in the treatment and advocacy of sexual assault patients during a period with increasing rates of IPV.
Subject(s)
Forensic Medicine/methods , Guidelines as Topic/standards , Sex Offenses/psychology , COVID-19/complications , COVID-19/epidemiology , California/epidemiology , Emergency Service, Hospital/organization & administration , Emergency Service, Hospital/trends , Forensic Medicine/standards , Forensic Medicine/trends , Humans , Pandemics/prevention & control , Physical Examination/adverse effects , Physical Examination/methods , Physical Examination/psychology , Sex Offenses/trendsABSTRACT
The novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 has surged globally bringing the whole world virtually to a standstill. Due to its highly contagious nature, various guidelines, protocols and preventive strategies have been devised for the safety of healthcare workers during management of the living as well as the dead. However, guidelines and precautions to be followed during the examination of the human skeletal remains are largely lacking. The present communication intends to address the issue of safe handling of human remains during medicolegal investigations in the COVID-19 pandemic times.
Subject(s)
COVID-19/prevention & control , COVID-19/transmission , Forensic Medicine/methods , SARS-CoV-2 , Autopsy , Forensic Medicine/instrumentation , Forensic Medicine/standards , HumansABSTRACT
Covid-19 has reached almost all the nations in the world. More and more people are dying from it and in some countries, even the army has been called upon to help dispose of the dead as there is a shortage of coffins, and undertakers are overwhelmed. Therefore, it is essential to have measures in place to contain the spread of infection while handling dead bodies. In view of this, different guidelines and protocols have been proposed bearing in mind the limited information we have about the virus. This review article sets them out for better reference.