Sexual Assault: Nurse Not Acting Within The Scope Of Employment.
Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession
February 2017
An employer is vicariously responsible under the law for an employee’s actions only when the employee is acting in the scope of employment in furtherance of the employer’s business. A nurse sexually assaulting a patient is not within the scope of a nurse’s employment duties and does not further the nurse’s employer’s business purpose.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT OHIO January 6, 2017A male former patient in a Veterans Administration hospital sued the US government over allegations that he was sexually assaulted by a female nurse who several times touched him inappropriately while he was under the effects of medications for depression. The US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio dismissed the case.
An employer is not vicariously responsible for an employee’s actions which are outside the scope of employment and not done in furtherance of the employer’s business. The Court could not consider allegations that the VA hospital itself was negligent in its hiring and supervision. Technically that allegation cannot be brought against a US government facility.
However, a private or municipal hospital is required to screen a nurse before hiring and to investigate and take action relative to any complaint of sexual misconduct which might indicate that a nurse is not to be trusted with close contact with vulnerable patients. A hospital could be ruled negligent in a civil suit for failing to do so.
Stout v. US, 2017 WL 68074 (S.D. Ohio, January 6, 2017).More from nursinglaw.com
http://www.nursinglaw.com/sexual-assault-risk-management.htm
http://www.nursinglaw.com/sexassault1.htm
http://www.nursinglaw.com/sexual-assault-hospital-liability.htm
http://www.nursinglaw.com/sexual-assault-CNA-patient.pdf