COBB COUNTY, Ga. — The attorneys for a developmentally disabled woman say the hospital where she was a patient failed to keep her safe. They say a patient who was out of jail on probation sexually assaulted her. Now the woman and her family have filed a lawsuit over this incident.
Channel 2 Action News revealed last month how police investigated 40 alleged sex crimes at the Ridgeview Institute in Smyrna.
The alleged victim’s attorneys say the attack has left her with all kinds of psychological damage.
“This young lady has completely regressed in terms of her mental health,” attorney Rod Edmond explained.
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Edmond says his 20-year-old client, who he says has the cognitive abilities of a 5-year-old, is having nightmares.
“She’s basically gonna have years and years of worsened psychological trauma,” he says.
Edmond says a patient at Ridgeview Institute sexually assaulted his client back in April. He says, when his client told a staff member, she was ignored.
“Incredibly, this staff member did not tell a doctor about the sexual assault,” he explained.
He says that staff member didn’t call police, either. Instead, Edmond says the victim’s guardian did.
Smyrna police investigated, and now 36-year-old Martez Williams faces a rape charge.
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“The victim and her family, they want justice,” Edmond said.
Channel 2’s Tom Jones learned Williams was out on probation for felony theft by taking and methamphetamine possession in Troup County while he was at Ridgeview.
Edmond says that raises patient safety concerns.
“Ridgeview had a duty to find that out and know that before he put that patient in a population of other vulnerable patients,” he said.
The woman’s attorneys say this incident has stolen her child-like innocence.
“It has introduced concepts that they have never had to deal with and focus on,” attorney Shannan Young said.
Jones went inside Ridgeview Institute to get its response to these allegations. A manager told him he had no comment.
The victim and her family are asking Ridgeview to better protect patients. The lawsuit points out the state has investigated dozens of assault complaints there. The attorneys said the victim and her family says if Ridgeview can’t protect patients, then it needs to shut down.
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