17 July 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — It has been one month since police alleged that a man sexually assaulted three patients at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis Hospital. Police arrested 28-year-old Miguel Rodela, and he was charged on Jun 21.
On Monday, a Wichita law firm announced it has filed a second lawsuit against Ascension Via Christi Hospital Wichita Inc.
Hutton & Hutton Law Firm filed a lawsuit last week for the first victim. It says it has now filed one on behalf of the second victim, an 82-year-old cancer patient.
“This woman’s dignity was stripped away at one of her most vulnerable moments,” Matt
Dwyer, Hutton & Hutton attorney, said in a news release.
The law firm claims that the alleged attacker was wearing a T-shirt and basketball shorts when he entered the hospital behind an employee just after midnight on June 15. Hutton & Hutton alleges that Rodela assaulted a patient on the eighth floor, then the seventh, then the sixth.
In each case, investigators have said that St. Francis staff entered the patients’ rooms while the suspect was in the rooms. The employees who questioned him told police that he claimed to be an employee or a family member.
According to the newest lawsuit, the 82-year-old patient woke up to a stranger kissing her on the mouth. A bed alarm activated, and a nurse technician went to check on the patient.
The patient’s lawyers say that when the nurse technician got to the room, the man was kneeling beside the bed with his hands under the blankets near her thighs. The technician told the nurse who went to check.
The nurse saw an unknown man leaving a bathroom across the hall from the patient’s room. The nurse asked the man who he was, and the man allegedly said he was a nurse tech. He also allegedly pointed to the patient’s room and told the nurse that the patient was bleeding from the side.
The nurse went to check on the patient, and the patient told the nurse what happened.
While the nurse was with the patient, the man allegedly made his way to the sixth floor and the third attack of the night.
“We believe video exists of Miguel Rodela on several different floors in the hospital, leaving us to wonder whether there are more victims who have not yet been identified,” Andrew Hutton, Hutton & Hutton founding attorney, said.
The lawsuit claims “medical negligence, ordinary negligence and premise liability” on the part of Ascension Via Christi. It also claims “loss of consortium” because of the impact on the woman and her husband. The lawsuit is seeking an amount “in excess” of $75,000.
KSN News contacted Ascension Via Christi for its response to the lawsuit. A spokesperson said the hospital does not have a new comment and pointed us to the statement that was released after the first lawsuit:
“The safety of our patients and associates is of the utmost importance to us which is why, as we have previously shared, we continue to review our security measures and implement new procedures and workplace safety education for all associates as opportunities for improvement are identified. Beyond that, we do not comment on pending litigation.”
Ascension Via Christi