Forensics in nursing

FORENSICSInNursing
“Current Trends in Forensic Science”
Dr. JayeshPatidar
www.drjayeshpatidar.blogspot.com

Forensics: Pertaining to the Law
Forensic Nursing: Application of Nursing to the Law

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What is Forensic Nursing?
The application of forensic science, combined with clinical nursing practice as they are applied to public or legal proceedings in the law enforcement arena.
It is the application of forensic aspects of health care combined with biopsychosocialeducation of the registered nurse in the scientific investigation and treatment of trauma, death, violent or criminal activity, and traumatic accidents within the clinical or community institution (Lynch, 1991).
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Forensic Nurses
Trauma/ER
SANE/FNE/SART
Nurse Coroners/Forensic Nurse Death Investigators
Nurse Attorneys/Legal Nurse Consultants
Psychiatric & Mental Health
Correctional Health
Domestic Violence
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ER/Trauma
Why are they needed
Identification
Care for the Survivor
Care for the Perpetrator
Identification & Collection of evidence
Clothes
Injury and patterns of injury
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ER/Trauma
Documentation
What we do v. the crime committed
Chain of custody
Measurements in centimeters
Location
Description
Photography
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SANE
A registered nursewho has been specially trained to provide comprehensive careto sexual assault patients, who demonstrates competency in conducting a forensic exam and the ability to be an expert witness.
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Benefits of a SANE TEAM
Willingness
Specialty training
Comprehensive care
Fact based documentation (drop all opinions)
Forensic issue
evidence collection
chain of custody
courtroom testimony
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SART-Sexual Assault Response Team
Law Enforcement
Rape Crisis
Medical Response
SANE/RN
Physician
ANP
PA
Crime Lab
Counseling Services
Forensic Scientist
CPS/APS
Prosecution
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Together Everyone Accomplishes More
Don’t tell other members of the TEAM how to do their jobs.
Together we can make offenders want to relocate.

SART
Provide victim centered services
Provide compassionate care
Provide community awareness
Where to come
How we will treat you
Encourage reporting of Sexual Assaults
Encourage successful apprehension and prosecution of guilty offenders
Aid in the identifying of false reporting
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Sexual Assault
Every 45 seconds a women is Sexual Assaulted.
1:5 Women
1:10-20 Men
Screen ALL Trauma Patients (LOC, clothing)

Sexual Assault Exam
Sexual Assault is rarely suspected unless an outcry is made.
History from Patient (to diagnosis & treat)
Head-to-toe Assessment
Detailed Genital Exam
Collection of forensic evidence
Treatment for injuries, STD’s & pregnancy
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DFSA
1/3 offenders convicted-alcohol
40% of 2,366 survivors urine-alcohol
Multiple drugs: Ethanol, Benzo’s (valium, xanax, restoril, klonopin, rohypnol) Barbiturates, GHB, Ketamine, Chloral Hydrate, Muscle Relaxants, Opiates, Sedative Antidepressants
Challenges:
Drugs uses
Reporting
Collection of evidence
Lab methodologies
Dosages

JPS Health Network Statistics
No. of Exams
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
No. of Exams
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Nurse Coroners/ Forensic Nurse Death Investigators

Nurse Coroner/Death Investigation
The coroner is a public official who is primarily charged with the duty of determining how and why people under the coroner’s jurisdiction die (these jurisdictions vary form state to state, but typically include sudden, unexpected, unexplained, or traumatic death).
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A licensed nurse who carries out the duties of a death investigator in accordance with the performance standards and procedures established under the medical examiner or coroner’s system of death investigating and the jurisdictional standards of practice.
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Nurses have the educational background to understand exactly what causes death and what happens to a body after death occurs. Death may be a criminal event, but it is always a medical event. Unlike law enforcement who look at the deceased and want to know, “Who killed you?” nurses look at a dead body and ask, “Why are you dead?” If it is determined that the death was due to criminal cause then it is law enforcement’s job to determine who. Who better to determine the manner of death than medical personnel?
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Manner of death is the circumstances in which the cause of death arose, i.e. natural, accident, homicide, suicide, and undetermined. In some cases manner of death may be difficult to determine and may appear accidental (i.e. in a suicide without a note). Forensic nurses possess the skills necessary to complete a psychological autopsy and interpret the subtle nuances of medications, health history and circumstances surrounding suspicious deaths.
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Mechanism of death is the physiologic derangement or biochemical disturbance incompatible with life, which is initiated by the cause of death, e.g. cardiac arrest. Forensic nurses are well educated in physiology and are therefore prepared to accurately distinguish between the cause and the physiologic mechanism of death.
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Nurse Attorneys/ Legal Nurse Consultants

Goals
To establish a leadership role in health care policy making.
To influence health care social policy, health care legislation and nursing practice acts.
To educate the public about health law issues.
To educate the public about nurse attorneys.
To educate nurses about the legal system.
To represent the public; client advocate.

Nurse Attorneys/Legal Nurse Consultants
Nurses want to make fundamental change in the way healthcare is delivered, and recognizing that it needs to occur through legislation and political process is a big piece of it.
Like nurses, attorneys must interact with people who are vulnerable, who have been injured or traumatized, and who need assistance to regain their wholeness.
Client advocacy is the skill nurses bring to the profession.
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Issues and Goals
The enhancement of appropriate care for the severe and persistently mentally ill.
The integration of psychiatric and addictions treatment.
Strategies for promotion of mental health and prevention of psychiatric disorders.
The provision of appropriate care within the criminal justice system.
The equitable provision of care for children and adolescents.
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Issues and Goals
Ensuring access to care for older adults and members of minority groups.
Advocacy for access to psychiatric-mental health services as readily as access to medical services.
The development of an evidence-based approach to teaching nursing students about psychiatric-mental health nursing, at both the undergraduate and the graduate levels of education.

Correctional Health Nurses
Correctional healthcare is a unique specialty area.
Goals:
Facilitate an improved working relationship between the private sector and the correctional staff in jails, adult and juvenile detention centers, prisons to meet the needs of the inmate patient.
Promote correctional healthcare as part of the public health continuum.

Intimate Partner Violenceis an Epidemic

The Surgeon General of the United States recently declared:
“Domestic Violenceis the number one health issue facing the country today”

Domestic Violence
DV is the leading cause of injury to women in the world.
DV is the leading nonobstetric cause of death to pregnant women.
Every 9 seconds a women is battered.
1:3 women are a victim of domestic violence

Cycle of Violence9/15/201442www.drjayeshpatidar.blogspot.com

Eva’s Top 5 Domestic Violence Myths/Facts
MYTHS
Poor/unemployed
The victim spends a lot of time running to the doctor
He would never hurt the children
He only does this when he drinks
He wouldn’t kill her
FACTS
<15% unemployed
Only 2/3 will seek medical assistance
There is an increased incidence of child abuse
67% report alcohol abuse only 1/5 drinking at the time of abuse
2 women die each week at the hands of their husbands/Texas
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3-10 Million Children Witness DV Violence in Their Homes Each Year9/15/201444www.drjayeshpatidar.blogspot.com

63% of Young Men Ages 11 to 20 Who
Are Serving Time for Homicide Have
Killed Their Mothers’ Abusers

The Leading Cause of Injury to 14 Year Old Boys9/15/201446

More Facts..
DV kills as many women every 5 years as the total number of Americans killed in the Vietnam War…54,000
Approximately 50% of all homeless women and children in the U.S. are fleeing DV.
There are 7 animal shelters for every 1 DV shelter.

DV & Healthcare Costs
3-5 billion dollars in health care claims
100 million dollars in absenteeism, high turnover and lost productivity
Employee’s miss 1,175,000 days of work per year because of DV alone
DV in the US costs an estimated $67 billion/year
13,000 acts of DV against women occur in the workplace every year
Up to 52% of victims of DV have lost their jobs because batterers typically engage in behavior that makes it difficult to work

Types of Abuse
Physical
Hitting, kicking, strangulation, weapons
Emotional/psychological
Threats, destruction of self worth, isolation
Financial
Work, advancement, access to finances, credit,

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Lack of identifying victims of Domestic Violence is consistent in community hospitals and trauma centers.

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“Justice will only be achieved when those who are not injured are just as indignant as those who are.”
King Solomon

Forensics in nursing

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