Washington Hospital Sued Over Handling of Sexual Assault Allegations

A 22-year-old woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by a nurse at Washington Hospital has filed a lawsuit against the hospital, according to media reports.

The lawsuit, filed last Wednesday, stems from allegations that 31-year-old Jon Jeffrey Quianzon sexually assaulted the woman while she was unconscious in the emergency room in June 2010, the Bay Area News Group reports.

Quianzon was charged with four counts of sexual battery and one count of sodomy last August in connection to the sexual assault of the 22-year-old victim and another woman in October 2009. Quianzon, who is out on bail, is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in April.

However, the lawsuit claims that Washington Hospital is partly responsible for the 22-year-old’s assault because the hospital did not notify police about the 2009 case, BANG reports.

An attorney for the victim says the hospital, rather than notifying authorities, conducted its own investigation of the 2009 assault and found that there was no basis for the allegations, according to BANG.

The lawsuit claims that the hospital allowed Quianzon to work after the 2009 allegation and continued to put him in situations in which he was left alone with patients, which led to the 22-year-old’s assault.

"Washington Hospital created the environment for this heinous and horrific act to occur,” Jason Runckel, the 22-year-old woman’s attorney, told BANG.

The hospital, however, says it took “swift and appropriate action” and alerted the proper authorities after receiving a report of the employee’s inappropriate behavior in June 2012.

"The employee was arrested immediately, and Washington Hospital continues to fully cooperate with the authorities,” a hospital spokeswoman told BANG.

Read the full Bay Area News Group report here.