Trial Begins in Lawsuit of Patient Who Was Raped

A North Hollywood nursing home’s negligence led to the rape and impregnation of a semi-paralyzed patient who has massive brain damage, a lawyer argued Monday in San Fernando Superior Court.

Elian Rose, of North Hollywood, is seeking $20 million to $30 million from Laurelwood Convalescent Hospital on behalf of her 38-year-old granddaughter, a long-term patient who became pregnant in 1982. The woman, who requires total nursing care and is unable to communicate in any meaningful way, had an abortion and was sterilized to prevent further pregnancies.

During the opening argument of the civil trial, Alan Jule Schultz, representing Rose and her granddaughter, said Laurelwood’s insufficient security, negligent hiring practices and indifference toward a sexually aggressive patient led to the rape of the woman--maybe repeatedly over a period of time--and impregnation.

Precautions Claimed

But lawyers for the nursing home and its parent company, ARA Services, said they took reasonable security precautions and there was no way to ensure that the rape could not happen. The nursing home’s lawyers also argued that the victim’s condition did not appear to have worsened since the incident.

Rose’s granddaughter suffered massive brain damage in a 1969 car accident. Paralyzed on the left side of her body, the woman requires total nursing care and must be fed through a tube. She has lived at Laurelwood, formerly the Prestige Convalescent Home, since about 1970, when she was 20.

Though she cannot talk, Schultz said Monday that she is aware of her surroundings. She screams and yells when she feels pain, smiles in recognition when her grandmother visits and obeys simple commands to the extent that she is physically able.

Schultz said an outsider may have entered the building and raped his client. But he said he suspects the culprit was an employee with an assault conviction or a resident who was known to sexually molest other patients.

In either case, the nursing home is liable, he argued.

Security Criticized

“This is supposed to be a secure building, but the evidence will show that there are many doors into the building that are neither guarded or locked,” Schultz said. “The evidence will also show not only were the people that Laurelwood hired incompetent, but also dangerous.”

In addition, he said, the nursing staff knew that a male patient “was going around molesting other patients, but they did nothing to get rid of him.”

Schultz said the nursing home should pay for the trauma endured by the victim and her family.

Defense attorney Richard Castle said the nursing home should not be blamed for the incident because the rapist could have been a physician or someone visiting another Laurelwood resident.

He said the Laurelwood staff “cared passionately for this very tragic human being” and had no way to protect her from the many people who had legitimate reasons to be in the facility.

“It is a most unfortunate, tragic incident,” Castle said. “But there was no way of absolutely preventing it if someone wanted to do it.”

Defense co-counsel Jay N. Hartz said that since the woman’s rape, abortion and sterilization, “there has been no meaningful change in her behavior, no difference that anyone can objectively measure.”

“There has been no impact on her,” he said.