Recently, a civil case involving allegations of elder abuse has arisen. The case involves a now-deceased 87-year-old woman who was a resident of a retirement center in Kansas. The woman's family claims that the woman was sexually assaulted while she was at the retirement center and that the retirement center acted improperly in its response to this alleged sexual assault.

According to the woman's family, in October of 2010, a nurse's aide with the retirement center sexually assaulted the woman in the room the woman was staying in. The woman's family alleges that the retirement center and its staff failed to take proper actions in response to this alleged sexual assault. The family claims that some staff members of the retirement center even took actions to try to cover-up the alleged sexual assault.

The woman's family has brought a lawsuit in a court in Kansas in connection to these allegations. In their lawsuit, the woman's family reportedly is asking for monetary damages. One wonders what will ultimately happen in this case.

Residents of elder care facilities can suffer great harm when they are subjected to abuse. No resident of an elder care facility should have to face abuse at the hands of a staff member of the facility they are a resident of. Thus, one hopes that all elder care facilities take steps to ensure that their residents are not subjected to abuse like that alleged in this case. One also hopes that elder care facilities make sure to take proper actions in response when abuse does occur.

Source: Lawrence Journal-World, "Family claims in lawsuit that former 87-year-old resident of Brandon Woods at Alvamar was sexually assaulted," George Diepenbrock, Jan. 19, 2012