Woman sues Las Vegas medical facility, man accused of sexual assault
A woman who accused a former Las Vegas rehabilitation center nursing assistant of sexually assaulting her while she was on a ventilator filed a lawsuit this week against him and the medical facility.
Arrold Geffrard Jean, 53, also faces criminal charges stemming from the alleged sexual assaults that happened at Transitional Care of Las Vegas, 5650 S. Rainbow Blvd.
Lawyers for the woman, identified in the lawsuit filed Tuesday as “EH Jane Doe,” wrote that Jean sexually assaulted her while giving her a “bed bath” about two to three times a week, between November 2020 and May.
“What occurred to our client was not only horrific, but was inhumane,” Robert Murdock, one of the woman’s attorneys, said Wednesday.
The woman testified during a preliminary hearing last week in Jean’s criminal case that the nursing assistant used a cleansing wipe to touch her sexually during baths.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal typically does not identify victims of sexual assault.
Ben Nadig, Jean’s defense attorney, argued last week that there was not a “sexual element” to Jean bathing patients.
According to the lawsuit filed Tuesday, the woman has multiple sclerosis, is “essentially a quadriplegic,” and is on a ventilator for part of the time, during which she cannot speak.
The rehabilitation center was made aware of Jean’s actions in December, the lawsuit alleged, but “allowed the actions to continue.”
DeeDee Ramon-Goodwin, an administrator from the facility in charge of investigating alleged abuse, testified last week that a nurse who said she witnessed Jean assaulting the patient first told the facility’s director of nursing. The director of nursing spoke with the patient but did not tell Ramon-Goodwin, who did not learn of the allegation until months later, she testified.
Transitional Care of Las Vegas did not comment on the lawsuit Wednesday. Nadig said Jean was no longer employed with the facility.
The lawsuit alleged that the company failed to properly investigate Jean before he was hired, and failed to properly supervise him while he was working.
Nevada State Board of Nursing records show that a man named Arrold Geffrard Jean was a licensed certified nursing assistant since May 2013, although his license expired in August. Records show he had a prior license suspension in 2016.
Jean admitted to police that he was accused of abusing a patient in 2016 but “immediately claimed that he was a victim in that incident as well and that it was also a set up against him,” according to police reports.
He also reportedly acknowledged that a male patient at a separate facility accused him of inappropriate conduct in 2019 or 2020 but said he was cleared and able to return to work.
He faces three counts of felony sexual assault against a vulnerable person. A jury trial in the criminal case is scheduled for March 28, court records show.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.
