This employer must pay damages for negligence to the patient the aide sexually assaulted. COURT OF APPEALS OF ARKANSAS, 1998.

   The Court of Appeals of Arkansas recently upheld an $80,000 civil judgment against a hospital in favor of a female medical/surgical patient who was sexually assaulted by a male nurse’s aide.

   The aide went to her room without authorization and told the patient he was there to bathe her. He lifted her gown, washed only her genital area and then left her lying in a wet bed. The aide was later convicted of criminal charges of first-degree sexual abuse because of this incident.

   The court’s award of monetary damages was compensation for extreme psychological trauma, anxiety, distress and depression suffered by the patient.

   The hospital did not investigate a five-year gap in his employment background, which in fact was when he was working at a facility from which he was fired for sexual abuse of patients. The hospital did no background check.

   Before this incident the aide was caught in two female psych patients’ room having a sexual conversation with them. He was only verbally warned. He was not restricted from contact with vulnerable patients nor was an effort made to monitor his activities more closely.

   Some courts exonerate employers from vicarious liability because a sexual assault is outside the scope of an employee’s job description. This court refused to follow that line of thought. This hospital was ruled negligent in its own right, apart from vicarious liability, for hiring this employee in the first place and for allowing him access to vulnerable patients. Medical Center v. Smith, 976 S.W. 2d 396 (Ark. App., 1998).