Rape victim turned away from Fredericton ER, told to make appointment for next day

A Fredericton woman is still in shock after she went to the local hospital's emergency department to get a sexual assault forensic examination performed and was told to schedule an appointment for the next day.

The 26-year-old victim, whom CBC News is not naming, says she was told no one was on staff or on call that night at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital who was trained to perform the exam.

She said she was told to go home overnight, not shower or change and to use the bathroom as little as possible, to help preserve any evidence.

"I just really wanted to not have to preserve my body in the state that it was in for another 12 hours," she said in an interview. "So I guess I was feeling like I was being asked to sit in that experience. Like, I could smell him on me."

It was only after she called police for advice about what else she could do, and an officer intervened, that the hospital called in a nurse to help her, she said.

"No woman who has been raped should ever be told to come back tomorrow for help after finding the courage to reach out for help," the woman said.

She's decided to speak out about her experience, she said, to help make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else.

The assault happened in August on the New Brunswick Day long weekend, when she went on a date with a man she had met online.

She drove herself home around 10:30 p.m. and decided to call the Fredericton Police Force to ask what she should do when she "saw all the blood."

She said the officer she spoke to told her it was her choice but recommended she go to the hospital to get checked out.

He also advised she could get a sexual assault kit performed to collect any evidence in case she decided she wanted to pursue charges against the man.

"The police officer had told me that I shouldn't have to wait long. Like, the words he used were that, 'they would treat this as seriously as if you had a gunshot wound.'"

She took a number in Chalmers emergency waiting room, surrounded by men, and anxiously waited. A nurse eventually brought her into the triage area and began asking her some routine questions.

"I just kind of interrupted her and said, like, 'I'm here for a rape kit.'"