Hospital Is Vicariously Liable for Intentional Tort by Employee

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On July 4th 1988 minor Rachel Harris, 16, was committed to the psychiatric unit of Baptist Hospital for attempting suicide. On July 16th 1988, Ms. Harris was raped after midnight by the hospital's full time nursing assistant assigned to the psychiatric unit. It was testified by Ms. Harris that the nursing assistant, Raymond Steward, was touching her when she woke up. Crying she told him “ I'm a virgin” but he persisted. Ms. Harris said she then went into the bathroom in an attempt to get away from Steward and she proceeded to wash up. About 15 minutes later Ms. Harris witnessed Mr. Steward come into the bathroom which did not have a lock and he proceeded to sexually attack her. When Mr. Steward was no longer in the bathroom, Ms. Harris went to the nurse's station and requested to use the phone. She would told by a nurse that she would have to wait until regular hours. Ms. Harris then went into the room of another patient , Rozanna Moore and confided in her that she had been raped. Ms. Moore testified that Ms. Harris was shaking, upset, and in hysterics. While Rachelle Harris left to give a specimen, Mr. Steward entered Ms. Moore's room where he preceeded to show her photos from his wallet of his wife and children and asked her help in calming down Ms. Harris. Rozanna Moore asked him for a phone, which he placed outside Ms. Moore's door. Ms. Moore called her own mother who then went on to call Ms. Harris's mother. In this time, Mr. Steward disappeared from the floor and he was fired on July 16th1988 for abandoning his job without notice. Ms. Harris's mother, Ernestine Samuels, finally was able to speak to Ms. Harris and went to the hospital where she found her daughter with a nurse. A rape examination was performed but Dr. Isabelle L. Ochsner in the emergency room around 6:30am. No evidence was found of physical trauma but she testified that Rachelle Harris was

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