Queensland’s opposition has raised allegations about alleged sexual assault victims being turned away from hospitals due to a lack of rape kits and limited staff trained to dispense them.Queensland’s opposition has raised allegations about alleged sexual assault victims being turned away from hospitals due to a lack of rape kits and limited staff trained to dispense them.
After confiding in a family member, Jessica*, about the alleged incident, the pair presented to a central Queensland hospital the next day.In a state of distress, Tilly says she was made to wait three hours after being told no one with the required training could examine her, and that they would need to engage an on-call specialist. However, when one failed to arrive, the original doctor who had said she couldn’t do it offered to perform the examination.
“She looked inside mouth and said that looks fine. like: ‘What about my lip?’ Her lip was almost black from a big bite mark and : ‘Oh, I guess that would be part of it.’ The family chose to leave the hospital without undergoing the examination, and have lodged an official complaint. The new kits have been required to be used from 1 September. But whistleblowers and advocates say problemsin the rollout have led to delays in women accessing examinations.
Tilly said that as a result of her experience, she’d had suicidal thoughts and was afraid to return to the hospital.