Evidentiary Consent
Definition
Consent for the collection, storage, and law-enforcement release of biological and physical evidence from the patient's body. Separate from treatment consent; a patient may give one and not the other.
- Covers
- Collection, storage, and law-enforcement release of evidence from the body
- Distinct from
- Treatment consent, given for medical care itself
- Patient right
- May give one consent without the other
- Context
- Sexual assault examinations and mandatory reporting
Common questions
Can a patient accept treatment but refuse evidentiary release to police?+
Yes. Treatment consent and evidentiary consent are separate decisions. A patient can be examined and treated while declining to have collected specimens released to law enforcement, and the specimens are typically held pending a later decision.
Why keep these two forms of consent separate?+
Separating them respects patient autonomy over their medical care independent of any decision to pursue a criminal case, and it avoids conditioning treatment on cooperation with an investigation.
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