Woman Claims Sexual Assault by Nurse Picking Her Up for Admission to Recovery Center

The plaintiff, age forty-five, called the defendant recovery center seeking admission while she was drunk. According to the plaintiff she was duped into allowing a male nurse who worked at the center to pick her up under the pretense he would drive her to the center for admission.

In fact, the male nurse took the plaintiff to various locations where she continued to drink and then took the plaintiff to a motel, where he sexually molested her. The nurse pleaded no contest to criminal charges and served time in jail.

The plaintiff sued the recovery center, the hospital which owned it, and the company which did background checks of nursing applicants for the hospital. The plaintiff claimed that the nurse had a prior misdemeanor conviction for committing a lewd act in public, as well as prior serious complaints of improper sexual conduct at other hospitals. The hospital claimed that it properly relied on the background check company. The recovery center argued that it did not hire or employ the nurse. The background check company asserted that it was a court clerk who performed the actual record search based on minimal information provided by the hospital.

According to a published account a $255,000 settlement was reached.