Our regional hospital just canceled the contracts of full-time sexual assault nurse examiners (adult and pediatric) in favor of Monday through Friday, 9-to-5 availability, plus so-called telehealth services, in which at all other times an ED nurse does the rape kit guided over the telephone by an offsite sexual assault nurse examiner ("40 Years of Forensic Nursing and Current Opportunities in Remote Sexual Assault Care," https://wp.me/p7sy0l-8t6). This appalling development raises questions about competence, confidentiality, chain of custody, and later testimony, of course. It's also a horrible way to treat a victim of sexual assault, to say the least. An outpouring of public outrage from many quarters, including women's advocacy and support groups and nurses, failed to get this change completely reversed.

Wendie H., via ajnoffthecharts.com