Sexual Assault at PA Nursing Home

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

An elderly disabled female patient was sexually assaulted late last year by a male patient at a Norristown, PA. nursing home, according to a report by the Pennsylvania Health Department.
According to the report, which was just recently made public, the assault took place at the Norriton Square Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, a 99-bed home, part of Genesis Healthcare.
The report, based on an investigation in December, charges that the nursing home failed to protect a patient from abuse and neglect. It also charges that the nursing home failed to develop a care plan for the male patient to deal with his behavioral problems and his cognitive impairment.
The male patient, the report states, was taken away by police shortly after the incident.
The male was discovered in the female patient's room atop the female "and both residents were naked from the waist down."
In a subsequent interview with police, the female patient, who was identified as Resident 2, said that "a man came into her room and attempted to rape her."
Officials of Genesis did not respond immediately to a series of questions regarding the incident and the state report.
The female patient had been admitted to the facility a little over two years before the attack, while the male was admitted in August of 2018.
In addition to his cognitive impairment, the male patient had been diagnosed with a heart condition and diabetes and was subject to periods of temporary unconsciousness.
The female patient had been diagnosed with dementia, a urinary tract infection and was "moderately cognitively impaired." She also needed extensive assistance.
The male was discovered in the female patient's room by a nursing home employee, who then left to seek assistance from a nurse.
"Resident 1 was observed thrusting himself against Resident 2," the report states.
The residents were separated, the report continues.
The female resident was subsequently sent to a hospital for evaluation "and testing with a rape kit."
The male patient, when questioned by a staffer, said that "one of the nurses had caught him having sexual relations and (he) wanted to know why police were at the facility."
He later said that he hadn't done anything wrong and "that nurse is lying."
"The facility failed to protect one cognitively impaired resident from the sexual advances of another resident. This failure resulted in actual harm to Resident 2," the report concludes.
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