A family is suing Humber River Hospital, claiming staff did nothing when their daughter reported being sexually harassed and assaulted by another patient while in their care.
“Throughout the whole time, I felt unsafe,” the girl said about her nearly month-long stay at the Toronto hospital from early July to August in 2018. “I didn’t trust my parents, I didn’t trust anyone at that hospital.” She was 14 years old at the time.
According to the statement of claim, reviewed by CTV News Toronto, another patient—identified as I.B. who was 17 years old at the time—started “a targeted campaign of sexual harassment and coercion,” and that if she didn’t comply, he would report her computer use to hospital staff.
She says she reported the harassment to staff, but whenever she said anything, “it was just dismissed.”
The statement of claim says, “I.B. was subsequently charged under the Youth Criminal Justice Act in respect of his transgressions against I.M. and convicted of several offences including extortion, uttering threats, and sexual assault.”
“They really trusted this other person. He had been their patient for a longer amount of time,” she explained. “They trusted him with computer privileges, they didn’t trust me.”
Her mother only found out what was going on when lawyers drafted the statement of claim.
“It was really hard to believe because we put trust in the care team,” her mother, who CTV News is not naming due to a publication ban, said. “24/7 nursing care, child youth workers always there, did not see this. Did not stop this.”
In one meeting, her mother says she was told her daughter was having a consensual relationship with another patient.
“That was a big red flag,” said the girl’s mom. “I was just like, ‘That can’t be right,’ and they were like, ‘We can’t discuss this, it’s confidential.‘”
During her stay at the hospital, the girl pleaded with her parents to leave.
“I felt like I had no rights there. I just felt like… like a literal animal,” she said.
She described how one time she was upset after her mother left and didn’t bring her home.
“I was just sitting silently in the hallway crying and staff called security on me, and they picked me up and they do so much that’s so unnecessary.”
Over a long weekend, she was taken out of the hospital on a supervised visit to the movie theatre at the Yorkdale Shopping Centre. The 14-year-old escaped from the two staff members charged with her care, without a phone or money.
‘It was hell on earth’
“I just wanted to get far away from these people,” she told CTV News. She explained how she planned her escape by wearing two sets of clothes. Then, while going to the washroom with one of the staff members, she took off while they were occupied.
“I bolted as fast as I could, but I didn’t run because I didn’t want to be seen running.”
According to the statement of claim, while she was out in the community, she “was lured into the home of a male, F.C., who promised to let I.M. use his phone.” The statement goes on to say, “he forced himself upon her and sexually assaulted her.”
The claim explains that a Good Samaritan ultimately drove the girl to her grandmother’s house and reported the incident to police.
“F.C. was charged and subsequently convicted of multiple criminal offences, including sexual interference and sexual assault,” reads the statement of claim.
“When I gave consent to the doctor, the doctor basically reassured me that my daughter would be safe,” said the girl’s mother. “It was hell on earth. It was awful because we were just waiting, and we were trying to figure out where our daughter was.”
She was told her daughter left at 4 p.m., but police didn’t show up until four hours later. She said the officers told her the staff had not clearly explained the circumstances of her daughter’s disappearance and that it wasn’t listed as a priority call. The staff didn’t stay with them until police arrived, the girl’s mother adds.
“I called the hospital to let them know she was found. And the crazy thing was they wanted us to return her to the hospital,” she explained, “I said, ‘No way in hell is my daughter coming back,’ because she was just sexually assaulted.”
A month later, the mother said she spoke to the unit manager who shared that the social worker on the team didn’t recommend the day pass.
“The social worker basically told the doctor that our daughter didn’t want to be in the hospital so she’d be really high risk to be out in the community like that,” she told CTV News.
She said she was told this was the first time the hospital had ever done something like this.
“They didn’t have protocol, they didn’t have procedures,” she said.
‘A tragic case’
None of the claims against the hospital have been proven in court.
“We are unable to comment on patient matters,” Joe Gorman, director of public affairs at Humber River Hospital, told CTV News Toronto in a statement.
The family’s lawyer, Brent Vallis, was added to the case two years ago.
“I was extremely disturbed when I read the facts,” he told CTV News. “It’s a tragic case and my clients look forward to having their day in court so they can be heard.”
He said they are currently at the very beginning of the legal process.
For the mother, she desperately hopes to rebuild a relationship with her daughter.
“We were always trying to help, and not hurt,” she said. “They really hurt my daughter and they hurt our family.”
The girl chose to share her story to make other families aware of what she experienced.
“It’s ridiculous to see how many parents put their kids into places like this,” the girl told CTV News. “They have full confidence that they’re going to come out different, healed, better, kinder people or whatever, but I’m genuinely, 100 per cent sure that I’ve come out more traumatized.”
