An elderly Balboa Nursing and Rehabilitation Center resident and her daughter have filed a lawsuit, claiming the resident was raped while at the nursing home because the home failed to protect her.

An anonymous San Diego nursing home patient, known as Jane Doe, and her anonymous daughter, known as Janet Doe, have filed a lawsuit against Providence Group, Balboa Healthcare, and Balboa Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. The two women claim that Jane was a resident at Balboa when she was raped by a parolee who entered the facility without intervention from the nursing home’s staff. 

Jane says that the assault occurred during the evening of Oct. 26 and continued into the early morning hours of Oct. 27, reports CBS. Jane claims staff members at Balboa left the back door of the nursing home facility open, which allowed parolee Lusean A. To enter int the building.

Allegedly, Lusean made his way into the second floor of the facility without being noticed by staff members. Jane says that Lusean entered her room while she was asleep, and he forcibly unclothed her and sexually assaulted her. She claims that he broke her arm while doing so. 

The Hillcrest nursing home abuse lawsuit says that the assault occurred without Balboa staff members’ knowledge until a roommate of Jane’s yelled for help. At this point, Lusean allegedly stopped assaulting Jane, and tried to hide in the room, then flee the room, still unclothed.

According to the Balboa negligence lawsuit, the man was able to leave Jane’s room, run all of the way down a long hallway, past a second-floor nurses station, down the stairs, and back out of the facility through the unlocked door. 

Jane and Janet claim that this assault was possible because of the negligence, recklessness, and willful failures of Providence Group and Balboa. The women claim that the companies had a duty to protect their residents, and they failed to do so. According to Jane and Janet, the companies failed to secure their facility, failed to prevent people from unknowingly enter the building, and failing to provide sufficient staff to monitor the facility. Allegedly, this resulted in a failure to protect the safety and well-being of residents.

The Balboa nursing home abuse lawsuit then goes on to claim that Balboa and Providence Group knew before Oct. 27, 2019, that their faculty did not have proper security, and were aware that the back door was commonly left open during the night. Allegedly, the companies knew that people would routinely enter the facilities without knowledge of the staff members. 

Jane and Janet claim that the companies did not implement adequate security measures in an attempt to save money and maximize the profits from the nursing home facility. Allegedly, this was knowingly done at the expense of the safety of residents.

Unfortunately, elder abuse and nursing home neglect is a problem around the country. Next Avenue explains the ways in which nursing home residents can be subjected to both abuse and neglect in their care facilities, often without the knowledge of their families.

The National Council on Aging reports that around one in ten Americans over age 60 have experienced some kind of abuse.

The Balboa Nursing Home Abuse Lawsuit is Case No. 37-2019-00068378-CU-PO-CTL, in the Superior Court of the State of California, for the County of San Diego, Downtown Central Branch.