Nursing Assistant accused of sexually abusing patient
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DULUTH, Minn. – A Department of Health and Human Services report says a nursing assistant sexually abused a patient at Benedictine Health Center.
It happened on October 22, 2025. The report says the nursing assistant exposed his genitals to the patient.
The report said that upon learning of the incident, the Director of Nursing interviewed the nursing assistant. The nursing assistant said they had gone into the patient’s room to care for them. They admitted their genitals were outside if their pants. The nursing assistant said they said goodbye to the patient while holding the patient’s hand and their other hand on their own exposed genitalia.
The resident’s story disagreed, saying the nursing assistant placed the resident’s hand on the nursing assistant’s genitals. The resident said the nursing assistant made the resident perform sexual acts on them with the resident’s hand.
The Department of Health and Human Services report continued to say the nursing assistant was suspended by Benedictine Health Center. The nursing assistant later resigned. The facility conducted an investigation and did not discover any other abuse by the nursing assistant.
Benedictine Living Community-Duluth provided FOX21 with the following statement on the incident:
Benedictine Living Community-Duluth has a long-standing tradition of providing high-quality, compassionate care, and we have taken this matter very seriously. When we learned of the incident, we immediately launched an internal investigation, notified all appropriate regulatory agencies, and fully cooperated with their investigations. The internal investigation determined that this was an isolated incident that did not affect other residents. The individual involved was suspended during the investigation and is no longer employed by Benedictine Duluth.
We also promptly retrained all staff on our policies regarding the care of vulnerable adults and the prevention of abuse to reinforce our expectations and ensure continued adherence to our standards.
As part of the Minnesota Department of Health’s review, the agency confirmed that our policies, procedures and staff training related to this incident are in compliance. In addition, that the community took appropriate, immediate actions to protect this resident and the rest of the residents from any further concerns.
The safety, dignity, and well-being of those we serve remain our highest priority.
