A seasoned consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist is urging rape victims to seek medical attention immediately after their assault, cautioning that delayed care can lead to severe and long-lasting physical damage, particularly from sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

“If they are seen promptly after the incident then we will give them medication that would counteract that in terms of preventing or treating any sexually transmitted exposure,” said Dr Shantell Neely-James who, for more than a decade, has practised in the public and private health sectors.

“But if they hide away and don’t come in, then there’s the potential to damage reproductive organs in terms of exposing them to STDs that could potentially damage their fallopian tubes,” she told the Jamaica Observer.

“They could get sexually transmitted infections such as genital warts, or even herpes legions that can prevent them from wanting to have sex with anybody else. Some persons, depending on the person that has assaulted them, [over the] long term they can be exposed to the human papillomavirus (HPV), which could increase their risk of developing cervical cancer,” she added.

Dr Neely-James, in seeking to drive home the importance of visiting a doctor after a sexual assault, shared the story of a patient who was raped at 18 years old but waited until she was 23 to seek medical attention.

“She had never been sexually active since that episode, and when she came she had genital warts. When I saw the outside of her vulva it almost had like a cauliflower appearance, based on how intensive the warts were,” she said.

“We had to start her off by doing all of the tests we would have done in that initial stage in terms of doing her HIV test, doing any other type of test, because we weren’t sure what else she was exposed to, based on the fact that she had such horrible warts,” Dr Neely-James said.

“We ended up having to give her the HPV vaccine to try and decrease the rapidity of the growth of those warts, and then she had to end up having a surgery to remove the warts and so, virtually, based on how much there were, we had to cut off a small piece of the cervix and stitch it in to get rid of the deformed outward appearance so she would have an almost normal-looking vulva or outside vaginal area.”

She said that the patient was traumatised and in a state of distress throughout the treatment process because she had to recall the agonising incident in order to seek treatment.

Dr Neely-James said that the young woman was, for years, confused about what was happening to her body, but out of fear she decided to try and handle the situation herself, later regretting her decision.

“Most people just don’t talk about it because they just don’t want people to know what happened to them, and they hate being uncomfortable. [They] don’t want to relive the situation, which is why they choose not to report because they don’t want anybody to know or anybody to potentially find out, and it being an embarrassment for them,” said Dr Neely-James.

She urged victims of these assaults to overcome their fears and seek medical attention, even if they are unsure about reporting the crime to the authorities.

“Find someone you can trust and confide in and have that person accompany you to the doctor, whether it be a private doctor or if you choose to go [through the public health service]. But, you definitely need to seek help as soon as possible so that we can mitigate against those potential risks,” she said.

The medical professional further urged doctors to be compassionate when treating rape victims, because of their fragile state.

“They just don’t trust anybody at that point. When you have already been violated and have something done to you that you did not want to do, and now somebody is coming to you again to do something to you — no matter if it’s a doctor or not — it’s still going to make you feel a bit weird that somebody is again trying to touch you,” she said.

“If it just happened and somebody just did all of this and then somebody comes in to say: ‘Oh, I’m going to touch you, but I’m a doctor so that’s okay,’ it’s gonna make them very uncomfortable, very shy,” she added.

“It’s all about being compassionate and trying to help them to understand that they can trust you, that there’s no need to fear you, you’re trying to help and trying for this situation to be over with as soon as possible.”