An incident involving a 74-year-old resident of a Georgia long-term facility who is described in another unrelated lawsuit as “a retired attorney who is suffering from advancing degenerative brain disease” was recently reported to the local police. The police charged the resident with intent to commit sexual assault of another resident in the facility.
Based on the warrant issued for the resident’s arrest, he allegedly entered the room of a female resident at 2 a.m. on September 10, 2020, and attempted to sexually assault her. Fortunately, she was able to prevent the assault. When confronted about the attempted assault by staff members, the resident said he misunderstood and thought it was a consensual arrangement.
Studies conducted by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) found that the older the victim, the less likely it is for the offender to actually be convicted. The same NIJ study found that elder sexual abuse victims were less likely to be believed if there were no signs of physical trauma. Lastly, victims living in nursing homes were the least likely to achieve a conviction for their perpetrators.
Elder sexual abuse research is limited, and is made more complicated by the fact that many elder victims are unable to communicate the maltreatment. Cases have occurred across the long term care continuum involving nursing assistants, live-in nurses, friends, family members, or any other type of care provider that is trusted to be alone with the elderly patient. The largest percentage of elder sexual abuse, around 70.7% of cases, is reported to have occurred within nursing homes.
Compliance Perspective
Failure to monitor residents to prevent sexual assault, and failure to report such incidents to appropriate authorities, may be considered a breach of residents’ rights to be free from abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Failure to adhere to the requirements for teaching, reporting, investigating, preventing, and correcting alleged violations may be considered immediate jeopardy, provision of substandard quality of care, and a violation of state and federal regulations.
Discussion Points:
- Review policies and procedures guiding the actions of teaching, preventing, reporting, investigating, and correcting alleged abuse and neglect complaints to ensure that all incidents are handled correctly and reported to the proper authorities as required.
- Train staff regarding abuse, neglect, and exploitation, including the potential for sexual assault; their responsibility to monitor, prevent, and intervene in resident-to-resident or other assaults; and how to immediately report the incidents to their supervisor or through the facility’s Hotline.
- Periodically audit to determine if all complaints are investigated and reported as required to appropriate authorities. Also, audit to ensure that residents risk evaluations regarding sexual or other aggressive behaviors are current and that interventions are included in the individual’s care plan, including the need for staff to monitor and protect other residents from assaults.
