Samuels V. Southern Baptist Hospital

624 Words3 Pages
Samuels v. Southern Baptist Hospital
Doris Harsh
Rasmussen College

Authors note
This research is being submitted on January 10th for Felicia Stokes, Medical Law and Ethics.

On July 4th 1988 a young women named Rachelle Harris age 16 was admitted into the psychiatric unit at Baptist hospital after trying to commit suicide.
After midnight on the twelve day after being admitted, Rachelle Harris was raped by a nursing assistant named Raymond Steward. She had testified that he was touching her inappropriately as she was waking up and told him she was a virgin. She tried to run away from him into the bathroom but was unable to lock the door because the psychiatric ward, for the patients’ safety, does not have locks. Steward came and opened the bathroom door where he then commenced to rape her. After that incident, she was frightened and in hysterics, running to the nurse’s station asking to make a phone call she was told she had to wait until regular hours. (Now why the nurses weren’t observant to Rachelle’s panic, shaking and upset has me questioning the competency of the nurses on duty).
Rachelle Harris then went to the room of another patient, Rozanna Moore, and told her she had been raped. Ms. Moore testified that Rachelle Harris was shaking, upset and in hysterics.
Rachelle Harris went to give a specimen and to perform a rape examination with Dr. Isabelle L. Ochsner, and the findings were that she didn’t show any physical trauma but, the police crime lab had tested Rachelle’s clothing positive for male sperm. The doctor testified that Rachelle was in such hysterics that she was sedated to help calm her down.
When Rachelle was being looked after, Mr. Steward went into the room of Rozanna and had shown her pictures of his wife and children trying to convince her that he didn’t do anything to Rachelle and asked her to calm Rachelle down. Rozanna asked Raymond

More about Samuels V. Southern Baptist Hospital

Open Document