6 months ago
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MERCED COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Valley lawmaker introduced 2 caller bills aimed astatine protecting patients from intersexual battle this week.
It comes arsenic a healthcare supplier faces respective lawsuits successful Merced County for allegedly violating women.
We bash privation to pass you that immoderate details successful this communicative whitethorn beryllium hard to read.
In May 2020, Celi Gonzalez says she went to a infirmary successful Los Banos for attraction operated by Sutter Health.
She says she got an ultrasound and that was the opening of her worst nightmare.
"As I laic determination with my feet successful the stirrups, I instantly began feeling uncomfortable," said Gonzalez.
Court documents uncover Gonzalez says the suspect "spent a sizeable magnitude of clip rubbing the ultrasound probe connected her outer genitalia."
"Just clanking connected the keyboard, I wasn't adjacent definite if helium was taking immoderate pictures and I noticed that it was taking truly long," said Gonzalez.
What she says happened adjacent is excessively graphic to share, but Gonzalez says determination was a chaperone successful the room, however, she was not looking astatine what was going on.
Amanda Whitten says that aft taking connected conscionable 1 of the cases and filing a lawsuit, she recovered astatine slightest 10 different women with akin claims who did not cognize each other.
She present represents 7 of them, with 1 lawsuit who yet passed distant pursuing the fearfulness from her experience.
"She paid for what this antheral did to her with her life, due to the fact that of the trauma that it caused," said Whitten.
Whitten says the pistillate ne'er wanted to spell backmost to immoderate healthcare supplier and yet died from a information that could person been treated done earlier intervention.
"It breaks my bosom that what we did initially, the archetypal lawsuit, didn't forestall what happened to her. It should have, but it didn't," said Whitten.
Now, Valley Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria is moving to adhd different furniture of idiosyncratic extortion for patients with 2 caller projected bills.
"One of the bills is to truly clasp radical accountable, and to marque definite that the penalties -- are penalties that volition deter individuals from not doing these horrific acts," said Soria.
The different portion of authorities volition necessitate modular grooming of chaperones that travel ultrasound techs to place erstwhile these types of situations arise.
"My extremity is besides to springiness them a dependable and marque definite that they consciousness that they are not conscionable being heard by our justness system, but they are being heard by our State," said Soria.
"That the policies bespeak that we perceive them and that we're going to bash everything successful our powerfulness truthful that nary different women look this benignant of horrific concern erstwhile they sojourn a section aesculapian facility."
Sutter Health sent Action News a statement, writing:
"Sutter Health is profoundly committed to the safety, trust, and dignity of each diligent nether our care. The idiosyncratic allegedly progressive is nary longer employed astatine Memorial Hospital Los Banos."
The civilian cases were resolved past summer, however, 4 of the 7 women Whitten represents person besides filed transgression charges.
This week, Whitten says a Merced County justice held the suspect implicit connected 4 counts of intersexual battle by fraud.
He's present acceptable to beryllium arraigned March 12.
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