Tripler must pay
$906,000 to patient

The woman was sexually
assaulted by a male nurse

A federal judge has ordered Tripler Army Medical Center to pay $906,000 to a former patient who was molested by one of its nurses.

In a 44-page decision issued Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Susan Mollway ruled that the hospital was liable to Lacey Panion and her Navy husband, Gary Panion, for emotional distress and other injuries arising from the molestation.

Mollway found that Tripler "failed to exercise reasonable care to protect Lacey Panion from the foreseeable risk of sexual assault," and awarded $816,000 in damages to her and $90,000 to her husband.

Lacey Panion was hospitalized in the intensive-care unit at Tripler in March 2001 in a near coma after she apparently ingested a drink spiked with a "date rape" drug, according to her attorney, Michael Livingston.

Despite being unable to move because she was under heavy sedation, Panion drifted in and out of consciousness and was aware of the attack by nurse Tyrone Fellers.

She reported the assault the next day and initially was not believed. The FBI was called to investigate, and Fellers admitted to molesting her and another patient three years earlier.

Fellers later pleaded guilty to one count of sexual abuse and was sentenced in 2002 to six years and six months in federal prison.

Panion, after being informed of Mollway's ruling, said she hoped the court's ruling will prompt Tripler to change its policies and improve the way it supervises vulnerable patients.

"Throughout the investigation of this ordeal and the prosecution of this case, the Tripler officials and the government seemed to blame me rather than the parties at fault," she said in a statement. "I hope our victory will provide the support and encouragement for other victims to fight for justice."

Tripler officials could not be reached for comment.

The hospital had maintained at trial that they could not be held responsible for Fellers' conduct, even if he was a Tripler employee.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Burke declined comment on Mollway's ruling, saying the Army needed to review the decision and decide whether to appeal.

"We disagreed at trial on factual and legal matters," Burke said. "Nothing dramatically changed our position on those issues."

Mollway questioned the nursing supervisors and their failure to reasonably supervise Fellers and his contact with Panion.

"Tripler's inattention to Lacey and its failure to provide reasonable supervision was a substantial factor in Fellers' sexual assault of Lacey," Mollway wrote.

Mollway found that Tripler was aware of the possibility that staff might assault patients in their care because of an earlier incident. A head nurse had testified that she had heard of another incident in which a patient had been sexually assaulted in the intensive-care unit by a male nurse's aide.

The amount awarded to Panion reflected $700,000 in general damages for what the court found was "unimaginable pain, terror, revulsion, frustration and emotional trauma that Lacey had to endure during the nightmarish extended sexual assault."