Patient at City Facility Sexually Abused

Note: This story was updated on May 18 with comment from the city Health Department. By Walter F. Roche Jr.

A cognitively impaired longtime resident of a Philadelphia owned nursing home was sexually abused by a facility employee who was caught naked with the victim in a closed section of the 402-bed facility.
The discovery of the abuse was detailed in a 14-page report recently made public by the state Health Department. When confronted with the incident the employee denied engaging in inappropriate behavior but stated to one supervisor,"I don't know what to say, you need to keep this between us."
According to the report, the relationship came to light on March 11 when an employee was making the rounds and checked Room 560 after hearing some noise in the unoccupied room. When he opened the door he observed an employee, a general mechanic, "completely naked with his clothes in a pile by the window."
The security employee did not see anyone else in the room, but a later review of surveillance camera footages showed the mechanic and the cognitavely impaired patient exiting the same room about two minutes later.
The mechanic eventually told investigators the relationship had become sexual only recently and amounted to "kisses and maybe some fondling." He denied having sex with the patient.
The patient told supervisors they had sex "a few times, total."
She began crying at one point in the interview and stated that she did not want the mechanic to be mad at her and think that she had reported the relationship.
The administrator of the facility, state surveyors reported, kept insisting that the relationship was "consensual despite the fact thay the patient had been diagnosed with cognitive impairment."
According to the report the mechanic was terminated on March 14, just three days after he was observed naked.
The director of nursing said she did not make the staff aware of what was going on because the matter was under investigation internally and by the police.
As for the patient's cognitive impairment, the report cites recent testing and previous diagnoses finding that she did not have a sound mind.
In a plan of correction filed with the state, nursing home administrators said they issued a formal poliicy statement barring sexual relations between staff and patients.
The plan also calls for staff re-education on sexual abuse and the responsibility to report any suspected abuse.
"All residents will be interviewed regarding sexual interactions," the report states, adding that they will be specifically asked about any sexual interactions between residents and staff.
Health Department officials noted that a subsequent inspection by state surveyors showed that all of the cited deficiencies had been corrected.
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