A Pennsylvania jury awarded $7.5 million in May to the family of a dementia patient who was sexually assaulted by a fellow resident of her nursing home.
After a two-week trial, a Lancaster County jury declared Maple Farm Nursing Center in Akron, PA, and its parent company 85% liable for the 2013 sexual assault.
The jury also found that the facility, owned by Garden Spot Village, had shown reckless indifference in failing to prevent the assault by a resident with a known history of sexual violence, according to the law website The Legal Intelligencer.
The law website reported that the case broke new ground with a Superior Court decision that the Older Adults Protective Services Act does not prevent individuals who report elder abuse from testifying in subsequent civil litigation. A three-judge panel rejected the nursing home’s argument that its employee’s testimony was privileged under the act.
The plaintiffs, two members of the victim’s family, were allowed to depose the nursing home employee who reported the abuse to the Lancaster County Office of Aging.
A plaintiff’s memo contended that accused resident, Glenn Hershey, who had cerebral palsy, targeted the 82-year-old victim because of her dementia. Maple Farm knew Hershey was a registered sex offender who had pled guilty to felony indecent assault, serving seven years in prison. In its own filing the provider said it had screened Hershey before admitting him, according to court documents.
Rather than appeal the jury’s decision, Garden Spot Village agreed to settle the case for $6.5 million “in conjunction with its insurer,” according to Garden Spot spokesman Scott Miller.
Hershey, 71, was convicted in 2014 for sexually assaulting the victim and sentenced to eight to 20 years in prison. His victim has since died.
From the July 01, 2018 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
