“At 0300 the beeper rouses Jenny O’Connell, RN. She fumbles for the button that alerts her to a death in the community. She arrives at the scene to find the pajama-clad body of an older man lying supine on the floor of a neat, dimly lit living room. A small puddle of blood has seeped from his head. The TV volume is low. The room is undisturbed except for the coffee table, which is askew, its contents on the floor. A remote control is clutched in the man’s right hand. A women wearing a night gown is sitting in the next room quietly crying. She has blood on her hands. What happened here? What or who killed this man? These are the questions nurse O’Connell has to answer. This is the job of a forensic nurse death investigator,” Connie Romano, MSN, BSN, CRNP, CEN Lippincott’s 2011 Nursing Career Directory. …show more content…
The forensic nurse is responsible for providing compassionate care to victims while collecting pertinent evidence which can later be used to prosecute perpetrators. In addition to evidence collection, the nurse may also serve as an expert witness by testifying in civil or criminal cases in a court of law. Without forensic nurses, many criminals would get away with the crime they committed and would remain on the streets putting the community at risk for future attacks. There are several areas of forensic nursing in which a Nurse can specialize including Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner, domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, elder mistreatment and death