BELLEVUE, Wash. — On Wednesday, a travel nurse filed a lawsuit against Overlake Medical Center and a patient, after she said the patient attacked and sexually assaulted her last year.
Samantha Bradley has been a travel nurse for more than 13 years. She said she began working at Overlake Medical Center in December 2023.
On January 17, 2024, Bradley told KIRO 7 that the unexpected happened while helping a patient who had just used the restroom.
“He wanted me to wipe his genital area. And I said, ‘no, sir, you can do that yourself.’ You know, how do you do that at home? Because obviously, he’s mobile,” she said.
Bradley says she refused to assist in that way, then it escalated from there.
“He had my forearm and he pulled me down to the ground and he pulled my arm underneath of him and put my hand on his genitals and then defecated on me,” she explained.
Bradley says she immediately told the doctor what had happened. According to the lawsuit, the doctor told Bradley: “She should be used to such attacks, having previously worked in an emergency room,” adding, “It happens.”
She says she was required to perform the procedure on the patient following the alleged assault.
“I didn’t realize how much it affected me until I could actually like sit down and absorb what happened,” she explained.
Bradley says she brought it up to a manager, who promised to help. But when Bradley checked up on the issue, she said nothing ever happened.
She accuses Overlake Medical Center of violating its policies by not reporting the patient or her claims to police.
KIRO 7 reached out to Overlake Medical Center, who pushed back against the allegations in a statement:
“Overlake Medical Center & Clinics does not typically comment on pending litigation; however, we treat allegations of physical and sexual assault with the highest degree of seriousness, and we stand behind the measures and protocols in place to protect our staff. We plan to dispute the claims against our organization in this case.”
More than year a later, Bradley says the assault impacts her daily.
“I still question myself, and my work and yeah, and my home life. So, it’s affected a lot more than what I thought it would,” she said.
Her attorney, Jason Skuda, said this goes beyond this one incident.
“What we want is for Overlake to respect and stand up for nurses because being assaulted by a patient is not part of a nurse’s job,” Skuda said.
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