Fellow Nursing Home Resident Charged with Molesting A Female Patient
Last week, a 72-year-old nursing home resident was charged with sexually abusing another patient. The alleged victim, a 54-year-old female patient, has the mental capacity of a 5-year-old. Both the victim and the assailant are residents at the Rehabilitation Center of St. Petersburg.
The defendant, Christopher McDermott, was charged with lewd and lascivious battery on a disabled person. McDermott is accused of fondling the female resident’s breast. Nursing home workers had reportedly warned him on more than one occasion that he was not allowed to engage in any type of contact with her.
Sex Abuse at Nursing Homes
Nursing homes are supposed to protect their patients from any kind of abuse. This means providing extra protection for residents who may not be able to take care of themselves because they are physically or mentally incapacitated and keeping residents who may be prone to abusive behavior away from the other patients.
Nursing homes must also make sure that they hire workers who are not inclined to engage in nursing home abuse or neglect. Unfortunately, there are a disturbing number of sexual abuse incidents that occur throughout the US that involve nursing home workers molesting or sexually assaulting patients.
Recently, a 52-year-old nursing worker at the Northwoods Rehabilitation Center was charged with misdemeanor forcible touching, felony sex abuse, and misdemeanor third-degree sex abuse for incidents involving a 78-year-old resident that allegedly occurred at the nursing home between December 15, 2007 and January 7, 2008.
The female patient is physically incapacitated. The indictment against Robert Gunderson accuses him of allegedly fondling the woman’s vaginal area and breast areas at night.
He also faces separate third-degree sex abuse charges from when he worked at Eddy Ford Nursing Home between August and September 2008. Gunderson is accused of forcibly kissing a younger victim with multiple sclerosis and who was confined to a wheelchair.
Nursing homes must prescreen nursing home workers to make sure that they don’t have a criminal record or a history of suspicious behavior. Because of their age or deteriorating health—two reasons why a person needs the protection and care of a nursing home to begin with—nursing home residents are easy targets of nursing home abuse or neglect.
Man Charged with Molesting Fellow Nursing Home Resident, TBO, May 5, 2009
Troy nursing home aide accused of sexually abusing 78-year-old patient, CBS6Albany.com, May 5, 2009
Related Web Resources:
Nursing Home Abuse: Neglect, Physical and Even Sexual Abuse are the Harsh Realities Facing Today's Elderly, NewsInferno.com, June 21, 2007
Elderly Often Unrecognized Victims of Sexual Abuse, Senior Journal, November 9, 2004
In Lake County, Will County, DuPage County, and Cook County, Illinois, Chicago nursing home neglect and abuse lawyer Steve Malman is the attorney you want to talk to about your case. Contact the Law Offices of Steven J Malman & Associates, PC today.
