Vident Partners provides vetted forensic nursing and sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) expert witnesses for cases involving medical forensic examination adequacy, injury interpretation, evidence collection and chain of custody, strangulation documentation, and institutional failures to provide a trained examiner. Request a referral today.
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Forensic nurses sit at the intersection of clinical care and evidence, and their work product -- the medical forensic examination -- is frequently the most consequential document in a sexual assault prosecution or civil claim. Sexual assault nurse examiners perform the examination, identify extragenital and anogenital injury, provide written and photographic documentation, assess and offer prophylaxis for sexually transmitted infections and emergency contraception, package samples for the sexual assault evidence collection kit, and maintain chain of custody 1. Expert testimony in this area is usually offered on one of three questions: whether the examination met the accepted protocol, what the documented findings do and do not establish, and whether an institution failed to make a qualified examiner available.
The controlling national reference is the Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women protocol. A National Protocol for Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examinations: Adults/Adolescents, now in its Third Edition issued September 2024, organizes the subject across overarching issues such as victim-centered care and informed consent, operational issues such as facilities and equipment, and the examination process itself including documentation and evidence collection 1. A companion protocol, A National Protocol for Sexual Abuse Medical Forensic Examinations: Pediatric, published April 2016, governs the examination of children and differs materially in approach, consent framework, and interpretation of findings 2. Counsel should confirm which protocol governs and which edition was in effect on the date of the examination, because the protocols have been revised and a party relying on a superseded edition is exposed on cross-examination.
Credentialing is in transition, which is itself a point counsel should verify before retaining. The Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner credentials for adult/adolescent practice (SANE-A) and pediatric practice (SANE-P) were administered by the International Association of Forensic Nurses; with that organization dissolving, the American Nurses Credentialing Center has agreed to assume the certifications, and holders whose credentials were due to expire in 2026 have been extended to December 31, 2027 3. The American Nurses Association continues to publish the Forensic Nursing Scope and Standards of Practice, which remains the foundational standards document for the specialty 3. The DOJ protocol separately encourages advanced education, supervised clinical practice, and certification for all clinicians eligible to obtain it 1.
The funding statutes matter more than attorneys often expect, because they define institutional obligations. Under 34 U.S.C. 10449, a State receiving STOP grant funds must ensure that forensic medical examinations are provided to victims free of charge or arranged free of charge, and must do so without regard to whether the victim participates in the criminal justice system or cooperates with law enforcement 4. Claims that a hospital billed a patient for a forensic examination, conditioned the examination on a police report, or diverted a patient because no trained examiner was available are grounded in that provision. Beyond sexual assault, forensic nurses are retained in strangulation and intimate partner violence documentation, elder and child abuse and neglect assessment, injury pattern and mechanism interpretation, death investigation support, and correctional and psychiatric facility injury cases.
Under 34 U.S.C. 10449, a State receiving STOP grant funds must ensure that sexual assault forensic medical examinations are provided free of charge to the victim, without regard to whether the victim participates in the criminal justice system or cooperates with law enforcement.
Case Types
Adequacy of the sexual assault medical forensic examination and adherence to the national protocol
Interpretation of anogenital and extragenital injury findings, including the significance of an absence of injury
Evidence collection, kit packaging, and chain of custody failures
Hospital failure to provide a trained examiner or diversion of a patient to another facility
Improper billing of a victim for a forensic medical examination or conditioning the exam on law enforcement cooperation
Strangulation and intimate partner violence documentation
Child and elder abuse and neglect injury assessment
Qualifications
Related Specialties
FAQ
The expert should be a currently licensed registered nurse in active forensic practice, holding SANE-A certification for adult and adolescent cases or SANE-P for pediatric cases, with completion of an accredited didactic course and a supervised clinical preceptorship. Because the credentialing body is in transition from the International Association of Forensic Nurses to the American Nurses Credentialing Center, counsel should verify current credential status directly rather than relying on a certificate date.
These experts are retained to address the adequacy of a sexual assault medical forensic examination, the interpretation of injury findings, evidence collection and chain of custody, hospital failures to provide a trained examiner, improper billing or law-enforcement-conditioned examinations, strangulation and intimate partner violence documentation, and child or elder abuse assessment.
No, and this is one of the most common areas of expert testimony. The forensic nurse's role includes identifying and documenting extragenital and anogenital injury when present, but the national protocol does not treat the presence of injury as a prerequisite to a valid examination or a reliable history. An experienced examiner can explain the range of expected findings, the effect of delay before examination, and the limits of what documented findings establish in either direction.
It matters a great deal. The Department of Justice publishes separate protocols for adults and adolescents and for pediatric patients, and the adult and adolescent protocol reached its Third Edition in September 2024. The governing document is the edition in effect on the date of the examination. Relying on a superseded edition, or applying the adult protocol to a pediatric examination, is a recurring and avoidable vulnerability.
In general, forensic expert fees are determined by the expert themselves, based on a variety of criteria. Among those criteria are professional experience, forensic casework, academic qualifications, certifications, and publications. Vident does have some influence over expert fees by comparing experts within a specialty, but ultimately it is a personal decision by the expert.
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