Haven Behavioral Health: Lawsuit Says Haven Failed to Protect Elderly Patient from Sexual Assault

February 22, 2022

Trial begins later this month for a civil matter between a victim of sexual assault and the hospital she was staying at when it occurred. In February 2020, Phoenix police say 42-year-old Jeffrey Mollett was admitted to Haven Behavioral Hospital after being released from jail. Police said he suffered from bipolar and mania. The same night he was admitted, police say he snuck into another patient's room and sexually assaulted her. The victim is 79 years old and has dementia, according to court documents.

"Obviously, something like this should not happen at a secure hospital that's supposed to be providing safety to its patients, like my client," said Melanie Bossie, an attorney who focuses on cases of abuse and neglect of the vulnerable.

Bossie said Mollett has been ruled not competent to stand trial, so he has not been convicted of any charges yet. At the time, he was arrested for sexual assault, kidnapping, and sexual abuse.

In the meantime, Bossie wants Haven Behavioral Hospital to be held accountable. "They have admitted that my client was sexually assaulted but they're not taking responsibility for it. They're claiming that this was not foreseeable, that something like this could happen to my client," Bossie explained.

Court documents show that Mollett was listed as a "danger to others" in hospital records and he was displaying aggressive behavior. Still, he was placed in the same unit of the hospital as the 79-year-old. "If Mr. Mollett was accessed appropriately, he should've been on five-minute checks, which clearly would have prevented my client from being raped at the hospital," Bossie said. "The CEO of the hospital testified that he should have been on the Mesquite Unit, not the Juniper Unit, and so in essence, they violated their own policy by putting someone like him to have access to my client. It's like putting a wolf on a unit with a bunch of lambs and he took advantage of it."

Surveillance video obtained by Bossie shows Mollett wandering through the hallways in the early morning hours. At times, he would open the victim's door and then walk away. Eventually, at 4:28 a.m., he walks into her room and shuts the door. About 10 minutes later, a behavioral tech opens her door and finds Mollett in the room without pants on.

"When you watch the video, there were no rounds from 3:50 a.m. to 4:38 a.m. when Mr. Mollett was found on top of my client," Bossie said. "The egregiousness just increased for me as I got more and more evidence and actually sat and watched the video."

Bossie said although her client has dementia, she still has memories of what happened to her. Phoenix Police also discovered evidence of sexual assault during a forensic exam at the time of the incident.

The defense filed a disclosure saying one of their expert witnesses will testify that "patients with dementia are unable to process events as 'good' or 'bad,' instead perceive only that events occur. Because of her dementia, Plaintiff would not process the incident as harmful, even if she could remember it."

"Someone with dementia process things differently but that does not mean they don't know they were raped, something bad happened to them, or they don't have lingering problems or issues," Bossie said.

The trial will begin on Aug. 23. According to the Arizona Department of Health Services' website, Haven Behavioral Hospital received a $1,000 fine for failing to complete patient observation rounds every 15 minutes. They were also issued several citations after this incident, which were corrected in August 2020. Arizona's Family reached out to Haven Behavioral Hospital and its attorneys several times for a comment but never heard back.

Source: Kim Powell, “Lawsuit filed against Haven Behavioral Hospital for sex assault of patient,” AZFamily.com, Aug. 3, 2021, URL: https://www.azfamily.com/news/haven-behavioral-hospital-lawsuit/article_dd04b8ac-f4db-11eb-a7db-5b16dff6ecbb.html