A medical question about rape.

[Juliette]

A client of mine is a 14 year old girl. This past summer as she was walking home from a church event one afternoon she was approached by a group of men who were affiliated with a local gang.

This county has been having a chronic problem with gang activity. It is known that one initiation members go through is to participate in gang raping a young girl. The younger the better.

So, they pull the 14 yr old girl into a car, take her to a secluded area, and she is raped several times by about 6 or 7 men, then released. She makes it home and her parents were gone. Too frightened to tell anyone about the attack because of threats made to her about her family, she tells no one for a few weeks.

Then, 7 or 8 weeks later she breaks down and tells her parents. They want to tell law enforcement but she becomes hysterical and begs them not to. She does agree to go to the family Dr. to check for STD's. After the exam he tells her parents that he found no sign of a sexual assault having happened.

Now the parents come to me. It seems they are starting to doubt their daughters story. As the daughter tells me the story she contradicts herself a few times. However, this is not that uncommon with victims of extreem trauma. My question is this. A young girl - a virgin - is raped several times by at least 6 different men, how likely is it that a medical exam 2 months later would find no trauma? Could the injuries have healed in that amount of time?

Thanks,
Julia

 

[blutoski]

A client of mine is a 14 year old girl. This past summer as she was walking home from a church event one afternoon she was approached by a group of men who were affiliated with a local gang.

This county has been having a chronic problem with gang activity. It is known that one initiation members go through is to participate in gang raping a young girl. The younger the better.

So, they pull the 14 yr old girl into a car, take her to a secluded area, and she is raped several times by about 6 or 7 men, then released. She makes it home and her parents were gone. Too frightened to tell anyone about the attack because of threats made to her about her family, she tells no one for a few weeks.

Then, 7 or 8 weeks later she breaks down and tells her parents. They want to tell law enforcement but she becomes hysterical and begs them not to. She does agree to go to the family Dr. to check for STD's. After the exam he tells her parents that he found no sign of a sexual assault having happened.

Now the parents come to me. It seems they are starting to doubt their daughters story. As the daughter tells me the story she contradicts herself a few times. However, this is not that uncommon with victims of extreem trauma. My question is this. A young girl - a virgin - is raped several times by at least 6 different men, how likely is it that a medical exam 2 months later would find no trauma? Could the injuries have healed in that amount of time?

Thanks,
Julia

I don't think this is a question for the list: it's a question for Child Protection Services (or your local equivalent). Most regions have an obligation to report, so the doctor would have to submit a formal report and explain his conclusions to the authorities, not just to the parents.

 

[nimzov]

If I was the victim or someone close to the victim I would be offended to think that such a personnal tragedy is discussed in a public forum on the Internet.

nimzo

 

[Overman]

Don't take that. Forums are for opinions. If you want answers you have to ask questions. Agreed it would be much much better to ask professionals and experts in the field, but some MAY post here...

 

[Dragonrock]

If I was the victim or someone close to the victim I would be offended to think that such a personnal tragedy is discussed in a public forum on the Internet.

nimzo

You're right, no rape victim has ever been discussed anywhere before.

 

[dogjones]

If I was the victim or someone close to the victim I would be offended to think that such a personnal tragedy is discussed in a public forum on the Internet.

nimzo

I wouldn't take too much offense at this. Lots of personal tragedies are discussed here - eg psychics scamming people whose kids are missing, cancer victims being ripped off by faith healers, etc etc. Also there's no indication of who OPer is and where she is, or who the victim is, or anything.

 

[nimzov]

You're right, no rape victim has ever been discussed anywhere before.

Of course but here we have a patient confidentiality issue. We have a lot of information on this case, and I don't think these personnal informations were given by the victim thinking they would be made public on the internet.

Feel free to discuss if you like. I just gave my opinion.

nimzo

 

[Dragonrock]

Of course but here we have a patient confidentiality issue. We have a lot of information on this case, and I don't think these personnal informations were given by the victim thinking they would be made public on the internet.

Feel free to discuss if you like. I just gave my opinion.

nimzo

What personal info? What city? What state? Is this even in the US? What race was the girl? What religion was the church?

Nothing we were given counts as anything other than general information that could be applied to many of the hundreds of teenagers that are raped every year.

If the person that this relates to reads this then they need to understand that in medicine, law, computers, and many other specialities people ask questions without given identifying information all the time in many different places.

 

[casebro]

Does having sex 'injure'?

Lots of bruises are totally gone in 6 weeks.

Not all women have a hymen to show virginity.

So lack of evidence is meaningless.

A 14 year old girl, walking home from church with a boy friend, past a secluded wood lot.... she's ashamed, makes up a story. An old story.

 

[EatatJoes]

It is my opinion that most muscous membranes heal quickly and it's possible that no trauma was apparent after two months, especially if the person is young. Just my opinion.

 

[TruthSeeker]

A 14 year old girl, walking home from church with a boy friend, past a secluded wood lot.... she's ashamed, makes up a story. An old story.

OR:

A 14 year old girl, walking home from church alone, past a secluded wood lot, is raped.... she's ashamed, hides it and heals physically . An old story.

 

[Juliette]

Does having sex 'injure'?

Lots of bruises are totally gone in 6 weeks.

Not all women have a hymen to show virginity.

So lack of evidence is meaningless.

A 14 year old girl, walking home from church with a boy friend, past a secluded wood lot.... she's ashamed, makes up a story. An old story.

Thank you, this is what I wanted to know. My question was only meant to help ascertain the possibility the girl is telling the truth. I want to help her, and the fact her parents are now doubting her is something she is having a difficult time dealing with. My gut feeling is that she is being truthfull.

I just want to add that I double-checked my profile before posting to make sure I had not stated anything about where I live or work. I have read good information here and it seemed a forum regarding medicine could answer my question.

And Blutoski, of course her physician is a mandated reporter, so of course it has been reported. Therefore your statement that I should not be asking here but at child services or the equivalent, really doesn't make much sense.

Julia

 

[blutoski]

Thank you, this is what I wanted to know. My question was only meant to help ascertain the possibility the girl is telling the truth. I want to help her, and the fact her parents are now doubting her is something she is having a difficult time dealing with. My gut feeling is that she is being truthfull.

I just want to add that I double-checked my profile before posting to make sure I had not stated anything about where I live or work. I have read good information here and it seemed a forum regarding medicine could answer my question.

And Blutoski, of course her physician is a mandated reporter, so of course it has been reported. Therefore your statement that I should not be asking here but at child services or the equivalent, really doesn't make much sense.

Julia

My concern was more about the quality of the answer you would get from the list. My wife is a forensic doctor (psychiatry) and my ex-wife was a child protection worker. I work at a community center on weekends as a supervisor, swim instructor, and coach. I'm well drilled in this type of problem, and the one thing I can say is that nobody on this list can answer your question responsibly.

It's a question for a CPS or a medical examiner, not for a list of anonymous contributors on a web forum founded by a magician.

Updated to add: if you think a mistake has been made, reopen the file. The primary complaint at this time is that a family practitioner is probably not qualified to confirm or deny this girl's claim.

 

[Dancing David]

If I was the victim or someone close to the victim I would be offended to think that such a personnal tragedy is discussed in a public forum on the Internet.

nimzo

DONK!

Thanks for supporting the culture of secrecy and shame, repeat to yourself:

"The victim is not to blame, on the perp rests the shame. "

 

[Dancing David]

Now the parents come to me. It seems they are starting to doubt their daughters story. As the daughter tells me the story she contradicts herself a few times. However, this is not that uncommon with victims of extreem trauma. My question is this. A young girl - a virgin - is raped several times by at least 6 different men, how likely is it that a medical exam 2 months later would find no trauma? Could the injuries have healed in that amount of time?

Thanks,
Julia

If the young woman and the parents agree then contacting a reputable sexual assault counselor might help.

Families all respond differently to trauma, one of the things that assault victims friend's and familes do is inadvertantly blame the victim by asking "Well, what did you do?"

 

[Dazed]

It really depends what is meant by trauma.

If they mean her hymen is still intact, then no, she wasn't gang raped.

 

[nimzov]

DONK!

Thanks for supporting the culture of secrecy and shame, repeat to yourself:

"The victim is not to blame, on the perp rests the shame. "

Strawman.

If I consult for a medical problem I don't expect to see my case exposed on a forum by the person I am consulting. Is that supporting a culture of shame and secrecy ?

nimzo

 

[Dazed]

She hasn't given any personally identifiable details. Let it go.

 

[Goshawk]

Disclaimer: IANA doctor, and this is just my informed opinion.

Yes, her injuries would certainly have healed in 8 weeks. Rape injuries, short of an all-out two-fisted beating or a brutal sodomization, are commonly minor things like bruises, cuts, and possibly tearing of the vagina, all of which would have had adequate time to heal in two months. This is why modern women have had it drummed into their heads in rape-consciousness seminars that rapes must be reported as soon as possible in order that any physical evidence--such as bruises, cuts, the assailant's pubic hairs, and of course semen--may be officially preserved.

And, the absence of a readily identifiable hymen doesn't mean a thing. Modern girls, who indulge in things like bicycle riding, horseback riding, and gymnastics, don't always necessarily have a classic intact membrane that breaks and bleeds upon first intercourse. I was a virgin when I got married, and I didn't have a "busted hymen bleeds all over the sheets" experience--I spent my girlhood riding bikes and horses.

So just because a doctor can't find an intact hymen doesn't mean she was raped, and just because she's contradicting herself now, eight weeks later, doesn't mean she wasn't raped. Memory is a funny thing, as any prosecuting attorney who's been flummoxed by an eyewitness can tell you. And the memory of a severe trauma like a gang rape can be especially subject to ex post facto editing by the victim, who remembers it, not the way it was, but the way she thinks it was.

 

[fuelair]

Find out. If true, eliminate the rapists, razor blades and needles available at no cost.