Vicki Elder, a semi-comatose quadriplegic patient at Stone County Skilled Nursing Facility, was sexually assaulted on November 3, 1996, by certified nursing assistant (CAN) Bill McConnaughey. The assault took place after Mr. McConnaughey and another CNA had completed cleaning and turning Ms. Elder and the other CNA had left the room. (The assault was discovered when the other CNA returned to the room.) Regions Bank, the personal representative of Ms. Elder, who died shortly after the assault, filed a complaint alleging Stone County was liable under respondeat superior, as well as for negligently supervising Mr. McConnaughey and failing to provide Ms. Elder the care and attention reasonably required by her condition. The trial court granted Stone County's motion for summary judgment on all three claims, and Regions appealed.
The Supreme Court of Arkansas agrees with the trial court that Stone County is not liable for the assault under respondeat superior or for failing to properly supervise Mr. McConnaughey. However, the court finds that there is a question of fact as to whether Stone County's policy of permitting male aides with little or no previous health care experience unaccompanied access to helpless female patients constituted a breach of the facility's duty of care, and whether the assault on Ms. Elder was therefore foreseeable. 'As events of recent years have sadly shown,' the court writes in remanding the case, 'nursing-home residents and hospital patients have been the victims of assault not only by employees but also by others, even persons wandering in off the street. The natural and probable consequence of failing to provide a reasonably safe nursing home or hospital is injury or assault.'
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