Hospital Is Sued Over Alleged Rape of Girl

The family of a comatose 11-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by a nurse’s aide at a San Diego convalescent hospital has filed suit against the facility for negligence and fraud.

The lawsuit, filed in San Diego Superior Court on April 28, alleges that LEIR Institutes Inc. and Alvarado Convalescent and Rehabilitation Hospital did not adequately staff the facility, or properly supervise their employees, thereby setting the stage for the attack.

Last December, the girl was admitted as a patient at the Lake Erie Institute of Rehabilitation, a “state-of-the-art” long-term care facility for people with traumatic head injuries, which occupies a wing of the hospital on Alvarado Road. She had been in a semi-coma since being thrown from a car during an accident two months earlier.

The girl was allegedly raped on Christmas Eve, and a 22-year-old nursing assistant, Noel A. Sanchez, was later arrested and charged with the crime. Sanchez, a Clairemont resident, is currently being held in County Jail awaiting trial June 9 on charges of forcible rape and child molestation.

Focus of Suit

Though Sanchez is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, the focus of the suit is primarily against the hospital, said attorney John J. McAvoy. “Whether or not Mr. Sanchez is guilty, . . . it was the atmosphere at (the hospital) that allowed it to happen,” McAvoy said.

The lawsuit alleges that hospital employees noticed the girl was bleeding early Christmas morning but did not report it to a doctor until Dec. 29. An examination showed the girl had a four-inch tear in her vagina and had lost about one-seventh of her blood, according to the suit.

The lawsuit further maintains that the hospital knew that the LEIR unit was understaffed and poorly supervised, but that it was more concerned with turning a profit than ensuring patients’ safety.

Attorney Richard Barton, who represents LEIR, said he had not yet seen the lawsuit and declined comment on the allegations.

The girl is now living with her mother in Riverside County. Her condition has improved since December, but she is still not fully conscious, McAvoy said. “We are not making any suggestion that her (coma) is a result of this rape, but the fact that she had this subsequent life-threatening trauma hasn’t helped her any,” McAvoy said. “I have had doctors tell me that the environment in which you place a semi-comatose child like this has a great deal to do with if she ever makes a full recovery.”

In January, Alvarado Convalescent Hospital was cited for a safety violation and fined $30,000 by the the state Health Services Department for failure to adequately diagnose the girl’s injury, treat the wound or notify a doctor. The fine was reduced to $15,000 because the hospital did not contest the citation and promptly paid the state fine.

Hillhaven West Inc., the operator of Alvarado Convalescent Hospital, was cited three times in 1988 for dangerous and/or unsafe nursing care. However, no action has been taken to revoke or suspend the hospital’s license, state Health Service Department spokesman Ernie Trujillo said Tuesday.