Rape Trauma Group Defends Doctor

A leading rape crisis organization has rallied to the cause of a former Lancaster emergency room doctor who was accused of mishandling the post-rape exam of a 4-year-old girl.

The group, Mothers Against Sexual Assault, disputed a report filed by a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy who accused the doctor of handling the girl too roughly and leaving her in an exam room for 90 minutes while seeing other patients.

At a news conference in Burbank on Wednesday, the group said it supported Dr. Christine Daniel’s contention that she did not mishandle the girl during the Aug. 5 exam, but rather was examining her for what appeared to be evidence that she had been raped more than once.

Supported by members of the organization and an adult rape victim whom she had previously examined and comforted, Daniel said she pleaded with the victim’s mother and grandmother and a rape crisis worker to enlist the help of a pediatric gynecologist to verify her suspicions of an earlier rape. But she said the women sided with a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy who rushed the procedure in an effort to arrest the girl’s 12-year-old cousin.

Daniel said Wednesday that she now believes that an adult had inflicted the earlier wounds.

“Just looking at the gravity of the injury tells you that is not something that can be done by a 12-year-old,” she said.