A family has filed a lawsuit against a Florida health care facility claiming their disabled daughter was raped and impregnated while at the facility for medical care.
At the time of the incident in early 2018, the victim was 22 years old and her family claims that due to her disabilities she would have had no way to engage in consensual sexual relations while being cared for at Pensacola Cluster, the health care facility in question, a Jan. 18 posting on fox8live.com said.
When the victim was at Escambia Westgate School for weekday visits, the staff claims that they had discovered bruising on her as well as a change to her demeanor. An investigation determined the woman had been raped, in addition to having her hip broken, the posting said.
An investigation into the assault determined the results were negative for foreign DNA, leaving a cold trail as to who the assailant may have been. The victim's pregnancy ended in a miscarriage.
James Green Jr. of Clark Partington, who is representing the plaintiff and her family, recently talked with the Florida Record about the case.
"Our client’s mother is outraged and devastated by what happened to her daughter, and wants to protect her daughter from abuse and for her daughter to be safe," Green said. "We are seeking justice for our client. We will find out how this was allowed to happen and we will do everything we can to make sure it never happens again to our client or anyone else."
According to foxlive.com posting, the sheriff's department has claimed that all means of investigation have been utilized.
The parent company for the health care facility, Florida Mentor, has pledged their ongoing cooperation in the investigation, the posting said. "We regularly review our protocols with the goal of enhancing the quality of our services and minimizing any risk to the health and safety of the individuals we support," Florida Mentor said in their statement.
The family is seeking legal and medical expenses, in addition to relocation damages for moving the victim to a another facility.