Medical examination for sexual abuse: have we been misled?

There are serious difficulties in diagnosing sexual abuse on the basis of an ano/genital examination. Nevertheless, medical conclusions are often used in court to provide evidence for abuse. The support for the alleged physical indicators of abuse has been based on opinions and claims unsupported by research data. Recent research by John McCann on the ano/genital anatomy in nonabused children has established that findings often attributed to sexual abuse are found in many normal children. McCann's findings were applied to 158 children who had been medically examined in cases of alleged sexual abuse. Nearly all the findings attributed to sexual abuse were present in McCann's sample of nonabused children.

source: Article 'Medical Examination for Sexual Abuse: Have We Been Misled?' by Lee Coleman (psychiatrist); www.ipt-forensics.com/journal/volume1/j1_3_1.htm#en0; Institute for Psychological Therapies; 1989