Florence Suarez, a member of an academic advisory group for the group, said, “The number of cases reported is much larger than the previous reports … We think there are some significant under-reporting because, on behalf of some of the patients, they’re scared” to come forward.

“You have to understand we don’t put on the medical front the images … that are extremely damaging to patients’ mental health,” she added. “That’s where we should be placing patients and where we should be able to say, ‘I’ve been advised this is what happens.’ It’s not.”

Suarez said the group has sent medical staff members to schools where they’ve helped students explain sexual assault — and she has even helped one a student explain the process itself.

But she added, “I doubt we get anywhere near the attention we need.”

In October 2012, an American medical association released a national task force report that called for research into why sexual assault victims drop out of medical schools after their initial experiences as students.

The task force has recommended the following steps:

Providing support to students experiencing sexual assault, including providing resources outside school;

Creating a “preventative action plan” for students before they arrive on medical campuses;

Educating medical students about the “dangers and consequences” of sexual assault, particularly sexual assault by other patients;

Reforming medical curriculum to reinforce awareness of the symptoms of sexual assault and recognize and treat sexual behavior that is sexual in nature;

Instituting education programs for future medical graduates on a range of topics related to sexual assault, including consent;

Developing educational tools for students involved in sexual assault prevention programs to support informed consent and trauma-informed care.

A spokesperson for the American Medical Association and the organization tasked with crafting the task force advisory committee did not respond to emails seeking comment.

The Canadian Medical Association has also come under recent fire for its handling of sexual assault cases that resulted in students dropping out.

In June 2011, the Canadian Medical Association had to clarify that some of the sexual assaults that rocked the medical community in the summer of 2012 were not included in a report issued in 2010 that said 1,000 cases of sexual assault occurred as residents between 2005 and 2006.

In a recent report, the Canadian Medical Association’s Committee on the Academic Workplace recommended “an overhaul of the process for resolving serious academic misconduct