Patient was sexually assaulted at mental health unit in South Carolina, lawsuit says
A woman says she was repeatedly sexually assaulted while getting mental health treatment at a South Carolina hospital, according to court documents.
Now she’s suing, saying the Prisma Health system didn’t do enough to prevent the alleged attacks, according to a document filed last month in Greenville County.
“Patient safety is our highest priority at Prisma Health,” spokesperson Sandy Dees wrote Thursday in a statement to McClatchy News. “We take all patient complaints very seriously, and this allegation is extremely concerning. Due to patient privacy laws and pending litigation, we are not able to provide any more comments or information at this time.”
In the lawsuit, the woman says she was admitted for a 72-hour stay at Prisma’s mental health unit in Greenville in April 2018.
During the woman’s stay, medical staff sedated her, leaving her “vulnerable and defenseless,” she said. That’s when a male patient got into her room, which had no lock, and raped her, according to the lawsuit.
The woman reported the alleged attack but said staffers didn’t conduct an investigation, according to her court filing.
The next day, the male patient sexually assaulted the woman two more times, the lawsuit said. He also threatened the woman and threw objects into her hospital room, according to the document.
Cameras recorded the alleged sexual assaults, the lawsuit said.
“We’ve seen the video,” Austin Watts, the woman’s attorney, told WSPA. “It shows the assaults taking place within Prisma.”
In the lawsuit, the woman said Prisma Health’s negligence was among the factors contributing to her mental and physical suffering. She also alleges the hospital was engaged in: “recklessness, willfulness, wantonness, breaches of fiduciary duty, infringement of Constitutional rights, civil assault and battery, false imprisonment, intentional infliction of emotional distress.”
The person accused of raping the woman, identified in the lawsuit only as a “dangerous male,” is charged with sexual assault, WSPA reported.
