Carolina Journal 2.13.08 - N.C. hospitals bill rape victims
http://www.carolinajournal.com/homepages/index_2008_02_13.html/#34782
RALEIGH — Rape victims across the state are paying for their ill fortune in the most tangible of ways: a bill for the evidence kit needed to lock up the rapist. The vast majority of the 3,000 or so emergency room patients examined for sexual assaults each year shoulder some of the cost of a rape kit test, according to state records and victim advocates.
Rape victims should not be charged for the collection of evidence needed to prosecute their rapist. This would be akin to police sending the victim of a home invasion a bill for the fingerprint dusting and investigation. This should not be viewed as a medical "service", but as the collection of evidence. The last person to be asked to foot the bill for such a procedure should be the victim.
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