Alleged Nursing Home Sexual Abuse Not Reported to Victim's Family

Hazard, KYAn elderly resident of a nursing home in Kentucky was allegedly sexually assaulted on two separate occasions in 2009 by a male resident of the facility. The family of the woman at the receiving end of the alleged nursing home abuse was not told of the incidents.

The Lexington Herald Leader reported earlier this month that the operator of Hazard Nursing Home and the facility's administrator are facing criminal charges for failure to report alleged sexual abuse against an elderly resident. According to the Kentucky newspaper and a summary of the alleged incident from the state attorney general's office, a male resident of the facility blocked the victim in his room in August 2009.

Nursing home staff later found the victim, who was reported to have been exposed to semen. The male resident's penis was exposed, according to the report.

The same victim was sitting in the hallway of the home last year when, within sight of a nursing supervisor and other staff members, a male resident walked up and ejaculated on her face.

The 88-year-old victim suffers from Alzheimer's.

The incident, it is alleged, was never reported to the victim's family. What's more, the latter incident was not contained in the attorney general's report, but rather was revealed as the result of a deposition from nursing home staff during an unrelated wrongful death investigation.

A statement issued from the office of Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway earlier this month noted that the administrator of the facility, who was also acting on behalf of the operator of Hazard Nursing home, "was made aware of the suspected sexual abuse of a patient by another patient on Aug. 8, 2009, and failed to report the suspected abuse to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services" as required by state law.

According to the text of a state citation issued over the matter, "The facility failed to protect residents from unwanted sexual contact, failed to report the allegations to appropriate state agencies and failed to thoroughly investigate the allegations of sexual abuse."

A statement issued by the facility indicated that Hazard has provided consistently excellent care to more than 7,000 residents since opening in 1976. "We were named statewide facility of the year in 1989 by the Kentucky Association of Health Care Facilities. We employ over 200 people who have a heart for resident care, and we treat them like family."