New York Psychiatric Hospital Chain Faces 20 Sexual Assault Lawsuits by Former Patients

Two psychiatric hospitals in Lewisboro and Saratoga Springs, New York are the target of numerous lawsuits over claims of sexual abuse against patients while they were children.

Sexual abuse lawsuits were filed by 20 plaintiffs in New York state Supreme Court in White Plains earlier this week, alleging that staff at Four Winds Hospital, Four Winds Psychiatric Services and Four Winds Behavioral Healthcare System sexually abused them at the facilities when they were minors.

According to the lawsuits, staff at the psychiatric hospitals, which provide care to children and adults, have sexually abused children at the hospitals for years. Incidents reported include staff plying children with favors or threats to have sex with them. Survivors indicate other staff were often aware of the abuse, but did nothing to protect the children under their care.

Problems have been linked to the hospitals for years, involving both actions by staff and the lack of security and safe protocols for patients. In 2017, a mother filed a claim against the facility after her daughter was sexually abused by a male resident after she was placed in the boys’ section of the facility, which had no locks on the bedroom doors.

That same year, a 31-year-old Four Winds employee, Dominic Sbordone, was arrested for having sex with a 19-year-old patient. Sbordone pled guilty six months later, and was sentenced to six months in jail and 10 years probation.

Each of the lawsuits argue that the hospitals have maintained claims of being safe facilities, despite years of studies and media reports exposing safety deficiencies. They further allege that lax policies have persisted, enabling the sexual abuse of children by staff members and others.

The lawsuits outline incidents of abuse primarily spanning from 2008 to 2020, though one case reportedly occurred as recently as 2022 or 2023, which involved a minor who was allegedly raped three times by a patient care technician and contracted a sexually transmitted disease as a result.

According to the claims, 15 of the former patients were abused at the Katonah facility, while five others say they were assaulted at the Saratoga Springs location.

The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified monetary damages, citing claims of negligent hiring, supervision, and training, as well as willful misconduct, violations of state human rights laws, deceptive business practices, and false advertising.

States Eliminate Deadlines for Filing Child Sexual Abuse Claims

The lawsuits come as states nationwide have focused on addressing incidents of child sexual abuse at various institutions nationwide that have gone unaddressed for decades.

New York was one of the first states to pass a law setting aside statute of limitation laws for instances of child sex abuse civil claims. California, New Jersey and numerous other states have passed similar laws, allowing “windows” for the filing of claims over instances that happened decades prior.

Some states have gone even further, with Maryland’s Child Victims Act eliminating the statute of limitations on such cases completely. This has resulted in an influx of Maryland child sexual abuse lawsuits against the Catholic Church and numerous other entities over the past year. However, the Supreme Court of Maryland is currently weighing the law’s constitutionality, following a challenge filed by the Mormon Church.