2008 Woodie Awards
Personnel and security checks are needed to make hospitals safe
Megan Lipkes
Issue date: 4/23/08 Section: Opinion
Hospital patients worldwide are filing suits against facilities and healthcare providers that have sexually abused them during their stay. In such vulnerable settings, we need to have stronger screenings and supervision of all patient/staff interactions.
In November, an Arizona woman who suffered from a stroke told her speech therapist that she had been sexually assaulted while undergoing treatment at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn. She had been unable to speak while at the hospital, communicating through hand gestures and drawings. The woman claimed her assailant may have been a nurse or a certified nursing assistant.
This, however, was not the first time Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn was accused of abuse.
In 2004, Bernardo Salibay, a certified nursing assistant, was accused of fondling a male patient. In February 2005, Salibay was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to register as a sex offender.
I understand that Arizona is ranked number 13 in most violent crimes, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, but how is it that some of these violent crimes are happening at hospitals? Hospitals with staff that are supposed to treat are, instead, allegedly abusing patients.
There have been claims that security in hospitals has increased worldwide; however, that didn't stop Raouf Philopos in Westmead, Australia, from raping a 16-year-old girl who was sleeping in the same room as the his asthmatic son. Nurses trusted this man to sleep next to his six-year-old son for the night, when no one should have been allowed in a room if another patient resided there.
In Connecticut, around 85 men and women have made allegations against St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center for alleged abuse and rape by the late endocrinologist Dr. George Reardon. Reardon practiced at St. Francis from 1963 to 1993, and allegations have been made that he molested, raped and took inappropriate photographs of patients, due to a hidden stash of pornography found after his death. One man said in a report that he was raped repeatedly as a teenager.
In November, an Arizona woman who suffered from a stroke told her speech therapist that she had been sexually assaulted while undergoing treatment at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn. She had been unable to speak while at the hospital, communicating through hand gestures and drawings. The woman claimed her assailant may have been a nurse or a certified nursing assistant.
This, however, was not the first time Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn was accused of abuse.
In 2004, Bernardo Salibay, a certified nursing assistant, was accused of fondling a male patient. In February 2005, Salibay was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to register as a sex offender.
I understand that Arizona is ranked number 13 in most violent crimes, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, but how is it that some of these violent crimes are happening at hospitals? Hospitals with staff that are supposed to treat are, instead, allegedly abusing patients.
There have been claims that security in hospitals has increased worldwide; however, that didn't stop Raouf Philopos in Westmead, Australia, from raping a 16-year-old girl who was sleeping in the same room as the his asthmatic son. Nurses trusted this man to sleep next to his six-year-old son for the night, when no one should have been allowed in a room if another patient resided there.
In Connecticut, around 85 men and women have made allegations against St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center for alleged abuse and rape by the late endocrinologist Dr. George Reardon. Reardon practiced at St. Francis from 1963 to 1993, and allegations have been made that he molested, raped and took inappropriate photographs of patients, due to a hidden stash of pornography found after his death. One man said in a report that he was raped repeatedly as a teenager.
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