Mental Health

Seniors Face Looming Dangers Of Sexual Assault In Nursing Homes

By Abbie Kraft | Update Date: Feb 27, 2017 11:18 AM EST

People who are placed in nursing homes are often left there by their families, expecting their loved one to be given the utmost care. According to an investigation, however, it was revealed that the seniors are being placed in peril as some of them have suffered from sexual assault.

CNN covered a report that showed seniors placed in nursing homes are victims of sexual assault. Identifying the predator and justifying the sexual assault case took a while as most victims can barely move, let alone talk and identify the suspect.

The news website narrated the story of a senior, who was raped during her stay in a nursing home. Maya Fischer opened up about her mother's experience as her 83-year-old mother, Sonja was assaulted by George Kpingbah in 2014. The case was justified as a witness, who saw Kpingbah inside Sonja's room as he assaulted her. Maya and her mother won the case as the predator was sentenced to eight years in prison and was guilty of third-degree criminal sexual assault.

George Kpingbah is only one of the predators who assault seniors in their rooms as they betrayed the public's trust. During his sentencing, Judge Elizabeth Cutter pointed out that what Kpingbah caused havoc among nursing homes as he posed as a threat and can potentially cause distrust among the families that takes their elders to nursing homes to be taken care of.

"You violated (a) position of authority, a position of trust," Judge Cutter stated during the hearing. "The ramifications of what you did are so far-reaching. ... It also affected everyone in that facility. Everyone who stays in that facility. Everyone who works at that facility. It affects everyone who has to place a loved one in a facility."

Sonja's case is only one of the few as CNN mentioned that there are more than 1,000 nursing homes that are said to be mishandling their residents. Some of the common complaints were sexual assault related, yet none were accounted for.

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