Laguna Honda faces second lawsuit over abuse scandal
Another patient at Laguna Honda Hospital has filed a lawsuit against the San Francisco facility in the wake of a widespread patient abuse scandal, alleging misconduct by hospital staffers.
The suit, filed last week in San Francisco County Superior Court, alleges that employees took photos of the plaintiff, identified only as Jane Doe, while she was naked and used the photos for nonmedical purposes, distributing them among one another, “exposing (her) to intentional embarrassment and ridicule.”
“This behavior demonstrates a culture of abuse, and a lack of patient dignity, that is unacceptable at an institution entrusted to care for the elderly and disabled,” plaintiff ’s attorneys wrote in the suit.
The woman, who is disabled and uses a wheelchair, wished to remain anonymous to “prevent further embarrassment and humiliation,” the attorneys said.
Jane Doe’s suit comes two weeks after another Laguna Honda patient, identified as John Doe, sued the hospital alleging abuse by hospital workers. John Doe claims a hospital staffer took a photograph of him receiving an enema and text messaged it to other employees.
The two suits follow reports of systemic abuse at Laguna Honda disclosed last year by the city attorney’s office and Department of Public Health.
But Jane Doe’s suit also suggests that the abuse included racial mistreatment months after the initial allegations came to light in June.
Jane Doe’s suit claims that in October, an employee pulled her by her shoulders across her hospital bed, “causing abrasions on her buttocks, legs and left side.”
She goes on to say that the staffer said, “We don’t like n— here,” either immediately before or while moving her.
The public, cityrun facility serves as a livein hospital, nursing home and rehabilitation center for 780 patients.
Health officials said the scandal included 30 patients who lived in two wards at the cityrun hospital, which primarily serves dementia patients. Six hospital employees were said to be responsible for the abuse, which occurred between 2016 and January 2019 and included chemical restraint, sexual or sexually related abuse or physical abuse.
The staffers involved in the alleged abuse have been fired, and a criminal investigation is ongoing.
In her lawsuit, Jane Doe said city officials made her aware of the abuse in March and August but initially did not provide details. In the fall, Grace Glenn from the San Francisco city attorney’s office showed the victim numerous photos that were taken of the victim naked, and without her knowledge or consent.
The plaintiff said she recalled an instance when the photos were taken. She had just returned to Laguna Honda after surgery, and was still “slightly sedated and/or drowsy” from pain medications.
“Plaintiff woke up to approximately six of defendants’ employees taking pictures of plaintiff while she was completely naked,” the suit states. “Plaintiff recalls defendants’ employees leaning over her and taking pictures of plaintiff ’s bare buttocks.”
The photos were taken on staff members’ personal phones and text messaged to other employees “for the purpose of making inappropriate and sexualized jokes,” the suit alleges.
The suit names City and County of San Francisco and Department of Public Health as defendants, along with Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center. Its allegations include elder or dependent adult abuse, confidentiality violations, violations of patients’rights, invasion of privacy and negligence.
A spokesman from the city attorney’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
San Francisco’s Health Department and investigators with the California Department of Public Health have spent months trying to establish the scope of the abuse as they work to assure the public and regulators that the hospital is safe for patients. The city has already paid a $780,000 fine to the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid for privacy violations, and additional fines for privacy breaches could be forthcoming. California regulators confirmed this month that Laguna Honda is now in compliance with state and federal regulations for the hospital’s operations.
San Franciso Chronicle staff writer Dominic Fracassa contributed to this report.