A former affected person is suing a New York Metropolis hospital, accusing the establishment of masking up a sexual assault allegedly perpetrated by a health care provider in 2021.
The femalepatient, who's unnamed within the lawsuit filed Monday evening, is suing NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital together with a number of employees members. She is accusing the hospital of masking up a sexual assault by Dr. Zhi Alan Cheng, who she stated drugged her with an unknown substance and filmed her assault within the examination room.
Cheng was arrested and charged with felony rape final 12 months and is at the moment awaiting trial, in response to inmate data.
Attorneys for Cheng advised HuffPost that they might “reply in courtroom” to the allegations and that as of Tuesday afternoon that they had not obtained or reviewed the lawsuit submitting.
On the time of the alleged incident, the affected person was 19, didn't converse English and had lately moved to the US from South America.
Cheng had first come into contact with the affected person at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in Queens. He examined her alone on June 20, 2021, two days after she was admitted to the emergency room with extreme stomach ache attributable to gallstones.
The lawsuit, which was obtained by HuffPost, states thatCheng carried out an pointless and invasive rectal examination on the affected person throughout their first encounter.
Later the identical day, Cheng allegedly used an worker ID to unlock the door to the stairwell close to the affected person’s room and entered alone, in response to the lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that nurses weren't appropriately monitoring the affected person and visiting her room commonly.
Cheng then injected an unknown drug into the affected person’s IV bag, which was linked to her arm, the lawsuit says. The drug made her really feel immense ache and shortly lose consciousness, and he started to sexually assault her on video with out her figuring out, the go well with states.
Dr. Sang Hoon Kim, one of many medical doctors who can be named within the lawsuit, allegedly signed off to witness the examination in his report with “boilerplate language” that he copied from a template.
The lawsuit says that Kim had made false statements in his process notes, together with that the affected person was receiving “twilight anesthesia.” The notes additionally failed to say she was rectally penetrated in the course of the process.
After Cheng left, the affected person notified a hospital worker that a health care provider had given her a painful injection that knocked her out. At this level, she didn't know she had been sexually assaulted, the lawsuit says.
Based on attorneys, the hospital put collectively a lineup of male medical doctors, and the affected person recognized Cheng because the one who had given her the injection. However the hospital allegedly did notdo something else in regards to the affected person’s report.
“The hospital made no notes in regards to the lineup in medical data, didn't notify police and didn't droop or terminate Dr. Cheng,” attorneys representing the affected person stated in a information launch. “Additional, the hospital didn't accumulate any forensic proof, together with gown or bedsheets, didn't check the plaintiff’s blood to find out what she was injected with, or provide her enough and well timed help companies.”
The day after the identification lineup, Cheng continued to deal with the affected person whereas she was sedated throughout surgical procedure.
Christopher Daviess, one other physician named within the lawsuit, was allegedly knowledgeable on June 23, 2021, by a employees member that the affected person had been sexually assaulted by Cheng.
The lawsuit alleges that Daviess delayed the affected person’s launch from the hospital with a view to draw her blood to check for HIV, with out her consent or data, and failed to inform her they believed she had been assaulted.
Upon her discharge, Daviess gave the affected person a packet of a whole bunch of pages of discharge papers in English that included a “sexual assault invoice of rights.” The few papers that had been in Spanish had been complicated to her as a result of she didn't know she had been sexually assaulted but, the go well with states.
The affected person wouldn't discover out in regards to the assault till greater than a 12 months later, in April 2023, when authorities known as her and her mom in to inform them that they discovered footage of Cheng sexually assaulting the younger lady whereas she was unconscious, in response to the doc.
Cheng was arrested on Dec 27, 2022, after a lady with whom he was in an intimate relationship advised police that shediscovered a video of Cheng sedating and sexually assaulting her on a number of events whereas she spent the evening in his house.
Police stated they discovered a number of movies of Cheng sexually abusing different victims, together with the affected person.
NewYork-Presbyterian advised HuffPost in a press release that it was “appalled and deeply saddened” by what the affected person endured. The hospital stated that when the district legal professional made it conscious of the case, Cheng had been “instantly positioned off obligation, banned from hospital property, and terminated.”
“As caregivers, we're accountable for the protection and wellbeing of our sufferers. It's a sacred belief,” the hospital’s assertion says. “The crimes dedicated by this particular person are heinous, despicable, and a basic betrayal of our mission and our sufferers’ belief.”
The assertion provides that NewYork-Presbyterian has quite a few stringent affected person security insurance policies and protocols in place.
“Our exhaustive overview of this matter included an evaluation of compliance with these insurance policies, in addition to the speedy implementation of extra coaching for all workers,” the hospital stated. “On the similar time, we've got been inspecting the total breadth of our protections to establish any alternatives for additional strengthening, according to our unwavering dedication to the very best commonplace of affected person security and care.”
HoweverAdam Slater, one of many attorneys representing the affected person, stated in a press release that this not the primary time he’s sued NewYork-Presbyterian on behalf of people that had been sexually assaulted by the hospital employees.
In 2021, Columbia College and NewYork-Presbyterian got here to a $71.5 million settlement with 79 girls who had been former sufferers of former gynecologist Robert Hadden, who was convicted this 12 months of sexually assaulting his sufferers.
“On the time of my agency’s earlier settlement with NewYork-Presbyterian, a spokesperson for the medical system vowed to by no means let what Robert Hadden did occur to a different affected person once more,” Slater stated within the information launch. “Lower than two years later, my agency is submitting one other lawsuit towards the identical hospital system for using one more predatory physician.”
Slater added that the failure to guard sufferers wasn’t remoted however systemic, and he inspired survivors to succeed in out for authorized illustration.
Need assistance? Go to RAINN’s Nationwide Sexual Assault On-line Hotline or the Nationwide Sexual Violence Useful resource Heart’s web site.
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