Brooklyn Hospitals Billed Rape Victims For Forensic Kits, AG Says

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — Two Brooklyn hospitals in Brownsville and Park Slope illegally billed rape victims for forensic examinations that cost up to $3,000, the acting Attorney General's office announced Thursday.

Brookdale University and Brooklyn Methodist were among seven New York hospitals that illegally billed at least 200 rape victims for their test kits and must now pay restitution to survivors, state prosecutors said.

It was a Brooklyn Methodist Hospital patient, billed seven times for one forensic rape exam, that spurred the Attorney General's office to investigate hospitals across the state, according to a press release.

“We believed it was an isolated case," said Alliance Against Sexual Assault Executive Director Mary Haviland. “The law is clear ... No survivor of sexual assault should be charged for a forensic exam in a hospital Emergency Room.”

New York state law mandates hospitals treat rape survivors without charge and bill the Office of Victim Services directly for the cost.

But investigators discovered "widespread unlawful billing of sexual assault survivors," with victims asked to foot bills that ranged from $46 to up to $3,000, prosecutors said.

Seven hospitals agreed in a settlement to implement written policies barring billing survivors for rape kits and to pay full restitution to those improperly billed, prosecutors said.

Columbia University, Montefiore Nyack Hospital, New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, Richmond University Medical Center, and St. Barnabas Hospital were also named in the settlement, said prosecutors.

“Survivors of sexual assault have already gone through unfathomable trauma,” said Attorney General Barbara Underwood. "To then subject them to illegal bills and collection calls is unconscionable."

New Yorkers with complaints regarding hospital billing are asked to contact the Attorney General’s Health Care Helpline at 1-800-428-9071.

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