Nursing home being sued for hiring strippers to dance for elderly residents [UPDATED]
On East Neck Nursing and Rehabilitation Center’s website, they say they are, “shifting the paradigm to redefine the rehabilitation experience. We will provide you or your loved one with an unsurpassed level of care that will nurture body, mind, and spirit.” A man now suing the nursing home thinks that they might’ve shifted that paradigm a little too much when they hired strippers to perform for their patrons, as the New York Post reports.
Franklin Youngblood was furious when he discovered a photo of his mother, 85-year-old Bernice Youngblood, putting money into a dancer’s underwear. After finding the photograph, he confronted a staffer, who then allegedly both laughed and tried to take the picture away. Mr. Youngblood is now suing East Neck Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, saying his mother, “placed in apprehension of imminent, offensive, physical harm, as she was confused and bewildered as to why a muscular, almost nude man, was approaching her and placing his body and limbs, over [her].”
Mr. Youngblood and his attorneys are questioning why she was giving her money to a stripper when it was supposed to be kept locked up in a commissary account and they also claim that the 85-year-old woman, “lacks the mental and physical capacity” to have protested the event. Attorney John Ray said, “Bernice Youngblood has lived 85 years as a traditional Baptist, hard-working, lady . . . And now she has been defiled.” Additionally, Ray alleges that in addition to the strippers, the nursing home also hired escorts.
The New York Post’s report mentions they reached out to the nursing home for comment on the lawsuit, but have not heard back. The story did mention, though, that in conversation with the son they claimed it was an “entertainment event” done in “good faith.” Looking at the Better Business Bureau’s listing on East Neck shows that it’s only had one complaint in the past three years and that there have been, “no significant government actions involving East Neck Nursing and Rehabilitation.”
Franklin Youngblood and his attorneys held a press conference today. Currently, the outlets reporting on the matter have provided no new information.
UPDATE 4/8/2014 8:27 AM PDT
More info: New York Post
