The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has completed its investigation of sexual abuse concerns at the Parkinson’s Specialty Home Care, a licensed home care provider in Golden Valley, Minnesota. A complaint was filed with the MDH alleging that that a health care provider working at the facility sexually assaulted a resident whom he was entrusted to care for.
The MDH investigated the matter and found that:
- Parkinson’s Specialty Home Care allowed a health worker who did not have a cleared background study to provide direct care to facility’s vulnerable adults.
- As of March 2011, the health worker had been disqualified by the State of Minnesota from any position allowing direct contact with vulnerable adults.
The Star Tribune reports: “That restriction grew out of a fourth-degree assault conviction. In November 2012, the Health Department initially concluded that the same aide sexually assaulted a resident with personality disorders at the Lake Minnetonka Care Center in Deephaven. The resident in this case, the department said in its public findings, was a woman in her mid-50s who reported that she was digitally penetrated by the man.” Click here to review the MDH report relating to its 2012 investigation.
With regard to the Parkinson’s Specialty Home Care sexually abuse investigation, the MDH found that:
- Despite the health worker’s 2011 disqualification, the health worker continued to work at facilities providing direct contact to vulnerable adults.
- Despite the prior misconduct and disqualification, Parkinson’s Specialty Home Care nevertheless allowed the disqualified health worker to work in its facility and have access to the facility’s vulnerable residents.
- Like the Lake Minnetonka Care Center in 2012, Parkinson’s Specialty Home Care employed the health worker through a staffing agency.
- According to the staffing agency, the health worker had worked over 1,500 shifts as a nursing assistant in numerous nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
- The facility’s Director of Operations/Human Resources stated the facility intermittently used the staffing agency to provide staff who were unlicensed, when the facility could not fill shifts with its own employees.
- On May 6, 2014, the health worker sexually abused the Parkinson’s Specialty Home Care resident (he touched and massaged the resident’s breasts and inner thighs while assisting her to get ready for bed).
- The health worker rubbed the resident’s back using lotion, then rolled the resident over onto her back, touched and massaged “every inch of [her] body” from her neck down, massaging her breasts, arms, stomach, inner thighs, legs, ankles and feet.
- The health worker repeatedly kissed the resident on the lips. The resident told the health worker that this was not right.
- The resident was shocked and did not know what to do, but did report the abuse to a nurse. The resident stated that she has increased visits to a therapist to assist her in dealing with the incident.
The Star Tribune reports that the staffing agency is Soul Care, a Minneapolis company.
The MDH substantiated the allegation of sexual abuse. [Case no. HL03650012]
This is not the first investigation of Parkinson’s Specialty Home Care by the MDH. Only a few months earlier, the MDH found Parkinson’s Specialty Home Care to be in violation of state licensing rules and statutes related to care not being provided according to accepted nursing standards, delegated nursing tasks being performed by unlicensed staff without training, competency and written instructions, and treatments being performed without a physician’s order. [Case no. HL03650011]
The Kosieradzki • Smith Law Firm represents clients who have been sexually assaulted in nursing homes and other care facilities. To learn more about our commitment to hold these wrongdoers accountable for sexual abuse, click on the following stories:
- Kosieradzki Smith Law Firm Reaches $10 million Settlement for Elderly Care Rape Case
- Kosieradzki Smith Case Causes Minnesota Lawmakers to Seek Change
- Kosieradzki Smith Law Firm Case Featured in New York Daily News
- Is the Minnesota Department of Health Doing Its Job?
- Kosieradzki Smith Law Firm Case Featured on Front Page of Minneapolis Star Tribune
- Kosieradzki Smith Case Prompts Investigation into Edgewood Vista Facilities
If you believe your loved one has been sexually assaulted in a nursing home or other care facility, take action and contact the Kosieradzki • Smith Law Firm online or call us toll-free at (877) 552-2873 to set up a no-cost, no-obligation consultation.
