forensic medical examination that may include collecting samples for forensic analysis. The findings of this physical examination and forensic analysis of samples may serve to corroborate or to contradict either parties’ report of the events. Does receiving services from a health care provider automatically confer upon someone the status of patient, and the concomitant rights and protections that accompany that status, or are other factors required to be present? Suspects are Patients Statements such as “suspects are not patients” have been made by law enforcement officers and forensic nurses alike. These statements are often followed by reasoning such as, “we don’t develop relationships with suspects”. The issue of caring for the “enemy” has been discussed in military nursing. In field hospitals during times of combat, nurses may receive patients from their own military services, civilian casualties or enemy combatants. This can create ethical challenges and cognitive dissonance for the healthcare team (Gross, 2010; Gesundheit, et al., 2009). In these situations, how is a healing relationship defined? How does a nurse develop a “caring” relationship with an enemy or an assailant? Are the enemy considered patients? Or does the fact that the person – friend or foe, civilian or combatant – require nursing knowledge and skills imbue upon them the label of patient? That is, patients are people who require nurses’ specialized knowledge, skills and care. While many health care providers provide care over sustained periods due to illness or injury, others provide episodic care. Forensic clinicians, just as non-forensic clinicians, can provide brief, focused, competent episodic care. Specific to forensic situations, the forensic nurse might be seen as creating a nurse-patient relationship that includes defining the specific 37 boundaries of services provided, information about the examination process, conducting an examination that s/he is specially trained to provide, and documenting the examination process, findings and statements made by the patient, including consent or assent for the procedure. Does this activity earn the person receiving the nurse’s attention, the label of patient? The specialized skills required to do the exam could be taught to another person, but this training would require a level of competence commensurate with a nurse. Hence, does a clinician, providing a forensic medical exam, establish a patient-provider relationship? Alternatively, the forensic exam could be conducted differently. In contrast to the accepted approach to conducting a forensic nursing examination detailed above, including sample collection by a licensed health care provider, another approach is used in some situations. Some nurses collecting forensic samples may not establish a relationship with the person/patient, may not ensure consent or assent for collection of the sample, and include only documentation that is required for payment of services. In these cases, an argument has been made that the nurse is not practicing nursing, but rather serving as an extension of law enforcement. Is this substandard nursing care, or enactment of skills when the person does not carry the label of patient? Do nurses who apply their knowledge and skills do so for some who are deserving of the status of patient, and others who have another (lesser) status? Or do some care encounters not rise to the level of earning patient status? The recognition that language matters has resulted in the move to more neutral language. Previously, persons reporting a sexual assault originally had “sexual assault exams” or “victim exams” done with a “rape kit”. Forensic clinicians have purposefully moved toward nonjudgmental language and now commonly refer to these examinations as forensic medical exams or medical forensic exams and the collection kit as a Physical Evidence Recovery Kit 38 (PERK). However, this same effort towards neutral, nonjudgmental language has not been made in reference to examinations provided for persons accused or suspected of committing a sexual offense. These examinations are commonly referred to as suspect exams although the purpose of this examination is the same as that provided for “victims” – to provide for the clinical forensic health care needs of the person, including collecting samples for forensic analysis that may or may not hold probative value once analyzed. One might ask if there is a concern about the patient who is a suspect and a sensitivity to the ability of the evidence to prove innocence as well as guilt. “There’s no evidence if the victim refuses the exam.” Traughber and Spear (Traughber, 1999) conducted a feasibility study to demonstrate the presence of female DNA on swabs collected following consensual, post vaginal coitus from the penis and scrotum of a male partner. All samples were collected within 15-hours following coitus. Glycogenated epithelial cells from the female partner were identified in 11 of 13 penile swabs and 10 of 13 scrotum swabs. Similar results were found in a study by Cina et al. (Cina et al., 2000) where cells shed by a woman during vaginal coitus were collected from the penis of a male partner during a 1 to 24-hour post-coital interval. DNA extracted from the collected cells were analyzed by PCR analysis to identify the female participant. The findings suggested that penile samples collected from sexual