Charged For Not Reporting Hospital Sex Case
Four Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn officials, including a vice president, each have been charged with a misdemeanor count of failing to report to police the alleged sexual assault of a stroke victim.
The Scottsdale City Prosecutor’s office pressed the charges in the highly publicized case of the 22-year-old victim, who could only communicate the alleged assault with gestures and drawings.
“This is very, very unusual,†said Michael Murphy , spokesman for the Arizona Department of Health Services. “Obviously prosecutors are sending a clear signal that the hospital has to change the way it does business.†Click Here
The four charged are Susan G. Livengood, an associate vice president; Shelly M. Van Vianen, nurse manager; Patricia Crellin, psychiatrist; and Madlyn Costantino, rehabilitation coordinator. They are due in Scottsdale City Court May 15.
Keith Jones, Scottsdale Healthcare spokesman, said Tuesday it was too early to comment on the charges.
The misdemeanor counts come just weeks after state health officials determined that Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn staff had violated a state law by failing to report the alleged abuse of an incapacitated person to police within 48 hours.
Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn officials have since revised their policies to conform to the reporting law.
Sgt. Mark Clark, Scottsdale police spokesman, said detectives asked prosecutors to review the case about three weeks ago because they were concerned “about the delays†in reporting it to police. Hospital officials told state health regulators that they did not report the alleged attack because they were not sure a crime had been committed.
Livengood, the vice president, told health-care regulators that the hospital considered the woman’s complaint an “unproven bizarre allegation,†and admitted that no “report was documented.â€
The stroke victim was allegedly assaulted in the hospital intensive care unit on Nov. 17. But because of her difficulty speaking, she waited until Dec. 12, when she used drawings and gestures to tell her speech therapist about the alleged attack.
Meanwhile, hospital officials conducted an internal investigation, but “at some point a decision was made not to immediately notify police,†according to a Scottsdale police statement.
The woman told her therapist she believed she was attacked by a male nurse or a male certified nursing assistant.
Scottsdale’s sex-crime detectives began investigating the case on Jan. 14, and eventually showed the woman 70 pictures of possible suspects, but she could not identify any of them.
Scottsdale police have investigated four alleged sexual assaults at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn over the last few years, but no suspects have been arrested.
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