Committee hears survivors, doctors and advocates urging requirement that chaperones be offered for sensitive medical exams

House and Senate members of the Joint Committee on Public Health heard more than three hours of testimony on bills including H.2362 and S.1491 that would require health care providers to offer trained chaperones for sensitive medical exams.

Representative Marjorie Decker, House chair of the joint committee, opened the hybrid hearing and invited testimony from legislators, survivors and experts about practices and proposed legal requirements.

The bill’s sponsors and supporters told the committee that the requirement would be offered to patients and that patients could accept or decline a chaperone. Representative Armini said the intent is “very simple: require health care providers to offer a trained chaperone to be physically present for all sensitive medical exams including genital, rectal, and breast examinations,” and that a patient would retain the choice to accept or decline the chaperone.

Survivors described how isolated, unchaperoned exams created opportunities for abuse. Rory McCarthy, a survivor who testified in person, said: "I am one of over 250 survivors of sexual…