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Lawyer for Cornell accuser says university doctor was 'yet another failure'
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Jane Doe told the school's doctor that she had contracted an infection "in a traumatic way", but they "didn't really follow up", according to the New York Times.
A woman who has accused several men of raping her at Cornell University in 2024 was failed by the school's health system, her lawyer has said.
Jane Doe, as she is known in court filings, said she told a university doctor two days after the alleged assault that she had contracted a urinary tract infection "in a traumatic way", but that they "didn't really follow up", according to the New York Times, external.
Her lawyer, Thomas Giuffra, said in a statement provided to the BBC that the doctor visit marked "yet another failure by Cornell".
Cornell said it did not have any additional information to share in response to an inquiry from the BBC about the health visit.
"Ms Doe's disclosure warranted further inquiry, including a rape kit and consultation of medical professionals trained to deal with rape cases and a physical exam to document her injuries," Giuffra said in a statement to the BBC.
District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said his office did not bring charges at the time because he had only seen a statement from Doe implying the incident was consensual and that she had not been drugged.
This week, Van Houten's office announced it would be reopening the case - less than two weeks after Doe filed her civil lawsuit.
Cornell has said it provided evidence to the district attorney's office from its own investigation, including a Snapchat group chat in which fraternity members discussed a "free" sexual encounter with Doe on the night of the alleged assault.
Giuffra accused the district attorney of changing "his story so many times, I can't keep up with it" in his latest statement.
"The pattern I am seeing is that whenever evidence comes out supporting prosecution, he claims he never saw it," Giuffra said.
Van Houten told the BBC that he had received a six-page statement from Jane Doe and the Snapchat messages from campus police.
But there was also a 120-page transcript from a recording of an interview by a Title IX investigator with Doe, with a victim's advocate, a counsellor and one of Doe's attorneys participating by phone, which Van Houten said he had not seen in full at the time.
She appeared to be "in shock" and "not really understanding the gravity of what she was saying", a roommate said, according to the documents the New York Times obtained.
The review also included Doe's text exchanges with one of the men accused of assault, who apologised to her after the alleged rape.
Her roommate told the university that as time went on, Doe "kind of came to realise that it was something bad.
On 3 November, Doe texted one of the men accused of assault and told him, "let's be clear that 90% of what happened that night was not consensual. i was given more key than i can remember," she said, using a shorthand for ketamine.
Later, at the Title IX interview, she said she felt "100 percent" confident that she was raped, remarks her attorney confirmed to the BBC.
Giuffra said that if she had received a rape kit in October when she went to see the university doctor, it is likely there would have been DNA evidence.
"Her reactions were a textbook reaction to trauma," he added.
Now, two years later, she told the BBC how she and her friends felt "overwhelmed" and "disappointed", comparing the atmosphere on campus to a "dark cloud".