title: Sexual assault and MDMA: the distinction between consciousness and awareness when it comes to consent.
abstract: In France, the term chemical or drug-assisted submission is usually defined as the rendering of a person vulnerable by the surreptitious administration of an active substance with the purpose of prejudicing the person or his/her possessions. If the harm is sexual assault, establishing the victim's submission involves both proving that a dangerous substance was administered, providing material evidence of the infraction (the assault), i.e. the detection of traces in a physical examination and samples, and proving the absence of consent. We report the case of a woman who was sexually assaulted after having been surreptitiously administered methylenedioxymethamphetamine. In this special case, the woman remained in a state of vigilance (conscious) throughout, so there is doubt about whether or not she consented. In other words, the ability to consent is debatable.
authors.affiliation: Service de médecine légale, Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire, 2 rue Henri Le Guilloux, 35033, Rennes, France. marlene.abondo@chu-rennes.fr
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Abondo
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bouvet
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Baert
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Morel
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Le Gueut
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001364:Awareness; D001628:Beverages; D003243:Consciousness; D005260:Female; D005554:Forensic Medicine; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry; D006213:Hallucinogens / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018817:N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000032:analysis; D011902:Rape / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D013094:Spermatozoa / Q000166:cytology
chemical_list: D006213:Hallucinogens; D018817:N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine