Illinois Senate to vote on bill limiting how far hospitals can transfer sexual assault victims

As the final hours of the legislative sessions tick away, Illinois lawmakers are expected to vote on a measure that would limit how far away hospitals can transfer rape victims, an issue NBC 5 Investigates first reported on last fall.

Illinois' current law, advocates say, creates a chilling effect for survivors because hospitals can opt to transfer sexual assault victims for treatment to another hospital, which an NBC 5 Investigates' analysis found can be 40 to 80 miles away.

Under the current version of the Sexual Assault Survivors Treatment Act – SASETA – Illinois hospitals are required to provide adequate care to victims of sexual assault, including offering them access to a variety of services, such as collecting a forensic rape kit if they so choose, collecting forensic photographs, contacting law enforcement, offering them a rape crisis counselor and access to a shower, sexually transmitted disease testing and other services.  

But a carve-out in the law also allows hospitals to transfer patients if they can't provide those services.

But a carve out in the law also hospitals to transfer patients if they can’t provide those services.

Advocates for rape victims argued this creates an additional burden on survivors and can dissuade them from seeking care or involving law enforcement.

A months-long investigation by NBC 5 Investigates last year found of the 85 hospitals with transfer agreements, nearly half required sexual assault victims to travel 40 to 80 miles away.

Senate Bill 1602 aims to change that, providing that the Illinois Department of Public Health can reject transfer agreements that would cause an undue burden for victims.

While the legislation doesn't provide a specific mileage parameter, it gives IDPH authority to intervene. Cheryl Thompson said it's a step in the right direction.

"When a victim comes into the [emergency room], we are already in our most vulnerable state. We are looking to doctors and nurses to treat us with some human decency," Thompson told NBC 5 Investigates during an interview last fall.

Thompson said she went to a bar near her home in Anna, Illinois, on New Year's Eve 2024 to meet friend and woke up in her driveway, feeling sore. She said she feared she had been sexually assaulted.

When she went to Union County Hospital for a forensic rape kit, she was told she'd need to be transferred to another hospital 77 miles away.

In her written statement to police, Cheryl also said the ER doctor told her she was “too fat and too tall” to have been assaulted. Traumatized, Cheryl waited another eight days before seeking treatment elsewhere.

“By that time the DNA was gone,” she told lawmakers during a committee hearing last week. “The thing that has bothered me the most is that – instead of trying to send me that far away, why wasn’t there anything to let me know that I could’ve gone to Carbondale, or I could have gone Heron. That would’ve made all the difference in the world to me.”

As part of our reporting, NBC 5 Investigates also reviewed 185 hospital inspections reports over a six-year period and found nearly half of the hospitals failed to provide adequate care.

The examples we uncovered included rape kits that were thrown away, others that were collected that sat on shelves for more than a year. In one case, a hospital failed to take forensic photographs of victims over a two-year period. The reason – the hospital said they didn’t have a means to store the photographs.

NBC 5 Investigates also found even though Deaconess Union County hospital collected Cheryl’s blood and urine, it failed to notify law enforcement – something required by state law, according to a copy of a hospital inspection report from last May.

Senate Bill 1602 specifically "provides that the Department of Public Health shall evaluate whether proposed sexual assault transfer plans would result in unduly burdensome patient transfers and specifies factors to be considered in making that determination." 

In determining whether it would unduly burden the victims, IDPH will consider the transfer plans and attempt to prioritize hospitals that are in closest proximity, among other considerations.

The bill cleared the Illinois House executive committee and the House floor on Friday. It has since cleared additional committees in the Illinois Senate and was placed on the concurrence calendar earlier this week.

“Knowing that, you know, my story has helped to propel this alone. It’s overwhelming,” she said.  

The bill faces little to no opposition, sources say, and could be voted on Friday night or Saturday – the final day of the spring legislative session.

A spokeswoman for Union County hospital where Cheryl Thompson was treated said no one was available for comment when a reporter asked about the pending legislation.

In a statement, the Illinois Hospital Association said:

“There are fewer hospitals in our rural areas, which in some instances, especially in far southern Illinois, has led to longer transfer times for some survivors. A SASETA taskforce led by Attorney General Raoul’s office has been meeting for almost a year to find solutions to reducing transfer times.  The legislation, sponsored by Rep Cassidy and Sen Morrison, includes several factors regarding transfers that IDPH will now take into consideration before approving an area wide treatment plan.  The state’s severe shortage of SANE forensic nurses, coupled with the high rate of burnout among these providers remain; but we feel this new guidance and the work of Attorney General’s taskforce has provided some creative solutions to reducing transfer times. We look forward to continuing our work with the legislature and AG Raoul to ensure sexual assault survivors receive the compassionate care they deserve.”

If Senate Bill 1602 clears the Senate this weekend, the next stop would be Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk.