A woman with dementia living at a Scranton nursing home was sexually assaulted by a fellow resident who was allowed to roam the hallways despite clear warnings the man was sexually aggressive, according to a lawsuit.
Staff at Allied Services Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, 303 Smallcombe Drive, knew the man, who also suffers from dementia, repeatedly wandered into other patients’ rooms in search of his deceased wife, said Vincent Cimini of Scranton, attorney for the 84-year-old victim. They failed to adequately supervise him, leading to the April 2 assault of his client.
“The actions of Allied and its employees were beyond negligent. They were inexcusable, they were outrageous and they are unforgiveable,” Cimini said in a phone interview. “There were more than enough red flags to show Allied (the man) posed a serious threat to our client as well as other residents. All these red flags were completely and repeatedly ignored.”
The lawsuit, filed in Lackawanna County Court, seeks damages for negligence from Allied Services and three employees. The victim is identified as “Jane Doe” to protect her privacy. The Times-Tribune is not identifying her assailant because the man has not been charged with a crime.
Lackawanna County District Attorney Mark Powell said police are still investigating the incident. He said it is unclear whether the man will be charged because of questions regarding his competency.
The state Department of Health, which licenses nursing homes, also investigated the incident and issued three citations to home on April 18.
Jim Brogna,vice president of Allied Services, could not comment on the allegations because they involve residents with dementia.
“We take this matter very seriously and respect the privacy rights of each of our residents,” Brogna said in a prepared statement. “Our staff strives to provide the best care possible to every patient and resident.”
Cimini said the health department’s report bolsters the lawsuit’s claims that Allied “turned a blind eye” to the man’s behavior.
According to the report, from Feb. 5 to March 20 Allied employees reported 15 instances of the man wandering the halls and/or entering other residents’ rooms. The man sometimes mistook female residents — including the assault victim — for his wife and became combative when staff attempted to remove him.
The report also notes other disruptive behavior, including a Feb. 27 incident in which the man made sexual comments to female employees and tried to pull them on his lap. On March 20, he hit male staff members and accused them of “sleeping with his wife.” Six days later, he was found lying in another resident’s bed and fought staff members who tried to remove him.
The report says the assault victim suffers from partial paralysis and severe cognitive issues that severely impaired her ability to speak. The assault was discovered by a nurse, who reported she discovered the man, naked and on top of the woman, appearing to have sex with her.
According to the report, the nurse had trouble physically removing the man off the woman, so she left the room, allowing the assault to continue, as she went to get help. A second nurse entered the room and told him to stop the assault, to which he replied, “who are you to stop me from having sex with my wife.” The employee then physically pulled the man off the woman.
The health department report faulted the first nurse for leaving the room while the assault was still occurring.
“There was no indication that (the) employee had remained in the resident’s room and attempted to summon staff assistance by other means to protect (the) resident ... from continued sexual abuse,” the report says.
It also faults the home for not doing enough to address the man’s behavior and wandering.
“The only interventions developed for this severely impaired resident was to encourage the resident to verbalize his reason for his noncompliant behavior and to notify the physician for possible alternatives to treatments,” the report says.
The report notes that, after the assault, the center moved the man to another unit and revised his care plan to include one-to-one supervision.
Allied also submitted a corrective plan to address the health department’s findings. The facility noted the employee who first witnessed the assault was fired. It also said it would reeducate staff on the facility’s abuse policy to ensure patient safety and ensure individualized plans are developed to better address dementia patients’ needs. The Department of Health reinspected the facility in June and confirmed the plan was enacted, according to April Hutcheson, the department’s communications director.
Contact the writer: tbesecker@timeshamrock.com; 570-348-9137; @tmbeseckerTT on Twitter