Stroke patient says she was sexually assaulted in hospital www.privateofficer.com

Scottsdale AZ. March 22 2008

A 23-year-old stroke victim with limited movement and able to communicate only with gestures and drawings told authorities she was sexually abused while a patient at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn in November.

The unidentified woman told her speech therapist in December she was attacked by an employee wearing hospital scrubs on either Nov. 16 or Nov. 17. The assault triggered one of the hospital's most intensive investigations, and resulted in tighter security at the Scottsdale HealthCare campus, 7400 E. Osborn Road.
The woman, who worked in hospital settings before her unexplained stroke, said her assailant may have been a nurse or a certified nursing assistant, according to a Scottsdale police report.Despite investigations by Scottsdale police and the hospital, no suspects have been identified.

The police report described the alleged attack as sexual abuse, public indecency and fondling.The woman, who was in the intensive care unit, could not have fought off an attacker because she has the use of only her left arm and is confined to a wheelchair when she is not in bed.

Officer Dave Pubins, a Scottsdale police spokesman, said the woman was shown 70 photos of male employees who had been near the intensive care unit, but she could identify none of them. The photos included a suspect in a similar attack elsewhere, whose picture was aired on "America's Most Wanted," the police report said."We are out of leads," Pubins said, adding that police would welcome help from the public.

The woman described her assailant as a male between 25 and 45 years old, clean shaven with short brown to blonde hair and a medium to small build.Scottsdale police began their investigation in January after hospital security officials said they had developed an "investigative lead." That employee was also cleared, according to the police report

.Hospital officials did not immediately contact police because the unidentified woman said she did not want anyone outside the hospital to learn of the alleged assault, said Keith Jones, hospital spokesman.Sue Livengood, vice president of hospital operations, referred questions to Jones. But she said in the police report that the hospital had no duty to immediately report the alleged sexual abuse to police or to employees, in part because she was unsure if a crime had been committed.Instead, she ordered the internal investigation, which Jones said "was one of the most thorough and aggressive investigations" conducted by hospital officials.

He said he knows of no other such attacks in the hospital.Jones said patient safety is "among the highest priorities" at the hospital, which uses security guards, K-9 patrols and other measures to safeguard patients and visitors. Security has been increased since the assault, Jones said, but he would not elaborate.

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