Allegations of Sexual Abuse in LTC Require Serious Investigation

​The North Carolina Court of Appeals has affirmed a trial court's grant of summary judgment to a long-term care (LTC) facility in a lawsuit alleging sexual abuse of a resident. The resident alleged that the facility had ratified the conduct of a certified nursing assistant (CNA) whom the resident accused of sexual battery and had negligently supervised the CNA and negligently retained him after the investigation.

The resident moved into the independent living section of a retirement community in April 2013. In December 2014 she moved to the assisted-living section of the facility because she was becoming increasingly forgetful; then in March 2015 she moved to the skilled nursing unit because her dementia was worsening. She had recently begun taking a new medication, memantine (Namenda), which was related...