Atlanta hospital billed rape victims for exams

http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/atlanta-hospital-billed-rape-victims-for-exams/

Originally published August 6, 2015
By Willoughby Mariano
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (TNS)

Georgia’s largest public hospital improperly charged more than 730 rape victims for forensic exams, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation has found.

Under state law, Grady Memorial Hospital is supposed to provide rape exams free to victims and send the bills to a special state fund — billing them is considered as unfair as a shooting victim paying police to dust the weapon for fingerprints.

Instead, survivors were caught in a two-year bureaucratic breakdown that shows how Grady, the sole rape crisis center for Fulton County’s nearly 1 million residents, fails to follow laws meant to protect victims.

In June, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) investigation found that the hospital conducted these exams on as many as 1,500 rape victims, then locked the evidence away — even when patients asked that the rape kits be shared with law enforcement.

State law requires hospitals to report and provide evidence on injuries that may be tied to a crime.

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“There is no other crime where a victim is expected to pay for a forensic investigation,” said Janine Zweig, an expert on billing for sexual-assault exams at the Urban Institute. Other area hospitals have been reimbursed by the fund for years, according to a database of payouts.

Victims may be unaware they are entitled to free evidence collection and never complain, Jenkins said. One Grady patient interviewed by the AJC said she does not recall being told by staff. The AJC is not naming her because she is a survivor of sexual assault.

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the hospital failed to verify and answer questions about the charges as the council required until May, after the AJC raised questions. By then, some of the expenses were nearly four years old.