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2.6-12 (NEW) Medical Treatment Evidence
New, November 1, 2008
Statements made by a complainant to a medical or mental health professional pursuant to receiving or seeking treatment have been admitted as substantive evidence. This means that your consideration of these statements is not limited to credibility or corroboration like prior inconsistent statements and constancy of accusation. These statements may be considered for their content.
Therefore, statements made by the complainant to <identify the witnesses and exhibits if appropriate> about (his/her) physical reactions and the acts that led to and surrounded those reactions may be considered by you for their content even though the complainant was not cross-examined on those statements.
Commentary
Include only if the court has also instructed the jury on the use of inconsistent statements for impeachment purposes (Impeachment -- Inconsistent Statements, Instruction 2.4-3) and/or constancy of accusation (Constancy of Accusation, Instruction 7.2-1).
For a discussion of the medical treatment exception to the hearsay rule, see
State v. Cruz, 260 Conn. 1, 7-10 (2002); State v. Marcial S., 104 Conn. App.
361, 364-67 (2007), cert. denied, 285 Conn. 907 (2008).