Case
Resolution
Dorothy Cooper
v. Texas Health Enterprises involved a 62 year old nursing
home resident who was repeatedly sexually assaulted by a nursing
home employee. Ms. Cooper resided at Terrace West nursing
home in Midland, Texas. She had suffered a stroke and
had left side paralysis making her wheelchair bound and dependent
upon staff for almost all her care needs.
Texas
Health Enterprises, one of the largest operators
of nursing homes in Texas, operated Terrace West
nursing home. The employee, Johnny Gordon,
was a powerful, 6'2", 200 lb male nurse aide with
an extensive criminal history, having served time
in the penitentiary for burglary and forgery.
Mr. Gordon also had a history of physically abusing
helpless nursing home residents. Approximately
one year before being hired at Terrace West nursing
home, Mr. Gordon had been terminated from New Horizons
nursing home for repeatedly hitting and abusing
a helpless wheelchair bound resident. Terrace
West and New Horizons were both owned by the same
entity, Texas Health Enterprises.
Texas Health Enterprises
kept no central registry or listing of former employees who were
ineligible for rehire due to termination for abuse of a resident. The
corporate personnel director for Texas Health Enterprises, however,
had repeatedly recommended that an abuse registry be implemented
to prevent the rehiring of unsuitable employees who moved from
one Texas Health Enterprises facility to the next. He estimated
that approximately three times each month, residents in Texas
Health Enterprises' facilities were harmed by an employee rehired
after previously being fired by the company for abuse and neglect
a of resident. Despite the known danger this practice created,
the company refused to implement a registry system, citing expense
as the reason. Interestingly, it was not expensive for
Texas Health Enterprises to maintain a "workers compensation
abuse registry" at their corporate office. Before extending
any offer of employment to any employee at a company facility,
this central registry had to be checked to determine if the job
applicant had filed any medical claims for on the job injuries.
As a consequence
of Texas Health Enterprises' refusal to implement a system to
screen from the employment ranks of the company, job applicants
who were previously fired by Texas Health Enterprises for abuse,
Johnny Gordon was rehired at Terrace West. He was given
carte blanche access to female residents including Dorothy Cooper.
As a nurse aide, Gordon's job duties included cleaning and bathing
female residents usually without the presence of a female employee.
It was during these times for a three month period that Dorothy
Cooper was repeatedly sexually assaulted and violated. In
order to hide his predatory conduct, Gordon threatened to kill
Ms. Cooper if she ever revealed his ongoing assaults to anyone.
Unfortunately, the
rape that occurred in this case is not the only incident of sexual
abuse to have occurred in nursing homes in this country. Aggravated
sexual assault in a nursing home happens more often than most
people care to know. The emotional scars that Dorothy Cooper
carried with her up until her death eight months later are testament
to the need for more aggressive and stringent hiring practices
by the nursing home industry. Her story signifies the complacency
of the nursing home industry in refusing to bear any added responsibility
in their hiring practices besides the bare minimum requirements
of the state of Texas. In an industry where employee turnover
rates far exceed that of the fast-food industry, Dorothy Cooper
and other nursing home residents like her need to be protected
from predators who seek out defenseless and vulnerable victims
like her.
As
part of the resolution of the lawsuit,
The Marks Firm required Defendant
Texas Health Enterprises to implement
a system to ensure that unfit and
dangerous individuals are prevented
access to vulnerable nursing home
residents like Dorothy Cooper. The
system was appropriately named the "Dorothy
System". Under the Dorothy System,
defendant Texas Health Enterprises
was, and is, required to create and
maintain a registry of any person
who, within the past five years
(1993-1998), has been terminated
for abuse or neglect of a resident
in any Texas Health Enterprise facility. In
order to create the database for
the registry, Texas Health Enterprises
was required to audit all personnel
files at approximately 120 nursing
homes for the period of 1993-1998.
Any individual who was determined to have abused
or neglected a resident was required to be entered
into the registry. Further, on an ongoing
basis, any employee determined to have abused
or neglected a resident must be immediately added
to the registry. No Texas Health Enterprises
facility may offer employment or continued employment
of any person listed in the registry. Prior
to extending an offer of employment to any person
in a Texas Health Enterprises' facility, the
registry, maintained at central headquarters,
must be checked.
Dorothy
Cooper was a victim of the man who
violated her and a victim of an industry
that failed to protect her. We hope that through the required
implementation of the "Dorothy System", the outrageous tragedy
that occurred in Midland Texas never occurs again. |
