Medical Design and Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • Med Tech Resources
    • DeviceTalks Tuesdays
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • The Big 100
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Video
  • 2022 Leadership in MedTech
    • 2022 Leadership Voting!
    • 2021 Winners
    • 2020 Winners
  • Women in Medtech

Report Says More Funding Needed to Cut into Rape Kit Backlog

September 7, 2016 By Mark Scolforo, Associated Press

Pennsylvania government auditors said Wednesday new funding is needed to cut into the state’s backlog of untested rape kits, and they suggested penalties against police agencies that do not meet testing and reporting standards imposed by a law enacted last year.

The auditor general’s office released a report that followed the state Health Department’s disclosure in May that there were more than 1,850 rape kits in Pennsylvania that had gone more than a year without being tested. There were more than 3,000 untested kits in all.

Auditors raised questions about the accuracy of the Health Department’s numbers and said it will be costly to meet standards in the 2015 Sexual Assault Testing and Evidence Collection Act.

“Moving forward, if you don’t test that rape kit, that rapist can go out and rape other victims,” Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said at a Capitol news conference. “Here in Pennsylvania, the late processing of kits is one barrier preventing swift justice.”

The typical cost at the three large public crime labs is about $1,000-$1,500 per kit, although there has been federal funding available. It’s not clear what it will cost to ramp up the labs to eliminate the backlog.

The Health Department said four months ago that 332 police agencies reported their rape kit backlog, roughly a third of the state’s total number of police departments.

The auditor general’s report said there was widespread lack of knowledge within law enforcement about the new law, which requires police to pick up kits within three days of getting notice from a hospital, and to have them delivered to a lab within 15 days. There’s evidence that some police departments may not be following a provision of the law that requires written permission from the victim before their rape kit can be tested.

Most rape kits in Pennsylvania are sent to one of the state’s three large public crime labs — the state police’s Bureau of Forensic Services, the Philadelphia Office of Forensic Services and the Allegheny County medicalexaminer’s office.

All three told the auditor general’s office they will need more people in order to effectively process more cases, and state police said they have run out of room at the six facilities they operate.

On Tuesday, the state police commissioner and Health secretary signed an agreement for the state police to compile data on rape kits from police agencies across the state and turn it over to the Health Department.

State Rep. Brandon Neuman, D-Washington, the prime sponsor of the 2015 rape kit law, said he hoped lawmakers will devote money to reduce the backlog during next year’s budget process. The 2015 law did not include any funding, but a federal program has provided some grants to address Pennsylvania’s backlog.

(Source: The Associated Press)

Related Articles Read More >

Dexcom One
How Dexcom’s portfolio goes beyond highly-anticipated next-gen G7
A portrait of Stryker executive Siddarth Satish
How Stryker includes users for product design in the digital age
A Medtronic HVAD pump opened up to show the inner workings
Medtronic investigates HVAD pump welds after patient deaths
Galien Foundation 2022 nominees
18 of the world’s most innovative medical technologies

DeviceTalks Weekly.

May 20, 2022
DeviceTalks Boston Post-Game – Editors’ Top Moments, Insulet’s Eric Benjamin on future of Omnipod 5
See More >

MDO Digital Edition

Digital Edition

Subscribe to Medical Design & Outsourcing. Bookmark, share and interact with the leading medical design engineering magazine today.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
DeviceTalks

DeviceTalks is a conversation among medical technology leaders. It's events, podcasts, webinars and one-on-one exchanges of ideas & insights.

DeviceTalks

New MedTech Resource

Medical Tubing

Enewsletter Subscriptions

Enewsletter Subscriptions

MassDevice

Mass Device

The Medical Device Business Journal. MassDevice is the leading medical device news business journal telling the stories of the devices that save lives.

Visit Website
MDO ad
Medical Design and Outsourcing
  • MassDevice
  • DeviceTalks
  • MedTech 100 Index
  • Medical Tubing + Extrusion
  • Drug Delivery Business News
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing World
  • R&D World
  • About Us/Contact
  • Advertise With Us
  • Subscribe to Print Magazine
  • Subscribe to E-newsletter
  • Attend our Monthly Webinars
  • Listen to our Weekly Podcasts
  • Join our DeviceTalks Tuesdays Discussion

Copyright © 2022 WTWH Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Site Map | Privacy Policy | RSS

Search Medical Design & Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • Med Tech Resources
    • DeviceTalks Tuesdays
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • The Big 100
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Video
  • 2022 Leadership in MedTech
    • 2022 Leadership Voting!
    • 2021 Winners
    • 2020 Winners
  • Women in Medtech