Nursing Home Sexual Abuse by Facility Employee*

Defendant Doe, on a routine medical examination, was shown to have bruises and abrasions in the pelvic area by an examining physician.

During the examination, Ms. Doe was reluctant to be touched by the male doctor, but became more docile when a female physician attendant was present. She expressed extreme hesitance at being examined in the pelvic region, up to and including flinching and pulling away from the nurse.

In checking with other staff at the Golden Hills Nursing Home, the attending physician suspected abuse by two attendants who regularly provided care for the defendant. He sent an inquiry through the organization's channels.

The defendant was interviewed by nursing home staff. After a careful cross examination, made more complicated by lack of lucidity on the part of the defendant, a pattern of nursing home sexual abuse was established.

Despite her Alzheimers, the defendant was able to positively identify the two attendants who sexually abused her.

In interviews, each attendant was questioned separately. One of them implicated the other as the primary instigator, on the assumption that the victim was "so out of it" that she wouldn't tell anyone.

With this testimony and the medical evidence in hand, criminal charges of second degree rape were filed against one attendant. In return for testimony on the witness stand, the second attendant got a reduced sentence of third degree rape.

Defense for one of the attendants attempted to establish that there was no reasonable standard of evidence to convict him of a rape, based on the lack of DNA evidence and the lack of lucidity on the part of the victim. This attempt fell through with the testimony of the second defendant.

When queried on the number of incidents, neither attendant would give a definitive start date for when the nursing home sexual abuse had begun, but the pattern had been in place for more than a year. Both attendants had worked at the facility since 2005 (two years) as of the time of the trial.

In addition to the criminal charges against both attendants, the judge levied a fine of $200,000 against Golden Hills Nursing Home. Other female residents are being questioned to see if the pattern of nursing home sexual abuse had extended to them.