The nurse called it a ‘skin assessment.’ The patient called it something else
A Melbourne registered nurse faces a criminal charge and has had his license suspended by the Florida Department of Health over a “skin assessment” that a patient said extended to her genitalia.
A misdemeanor battery charge remains against Jose Cruz, 38, after prosecutors dismissed the charge of sexual battery against a mentally defective victim. On Nov. 6, the Department of Health dropped an emergency suspension order (ESO) on the license he’s had since 2015.
According to the ESO and the arrest report by the Melbourne police department, a woman (hereinafter referred to as “CP”) was admitted to the Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne on April 27 as a Baker Act patient. She’d just attempted suicide.
She said upon arriving in her room, Cruz and a certified nursing assistant (CNA) came into the room. While Cruz was talking to her, CP said, the CNA left.
That’s when Cruz began his “skin assessment.”
The arrest report said Cruz later told police that the CNA was in the room with him. He changed his story to saying he “assumed” she was with him. He also acknowledged the “Four Eyes” policy for such examinations required at least another nurse in the room. A CNA couldn’t sign the paperwork documenting the exam.
Cruz said he unbuttoned CP’s gown and “checked her breast with the back of his gloved hand” and “he pulled her ‘drawers’ to the side to check her vaginal area without any unwanted contact.”
Cruz said he didn’t put his finger inside CP’s vagina. But as questioning continued, he said it was possible, then admitted putting the tip of his middle finger inside her vagina.
CP told detectives her previous experience with nurses told her they could give her the once over visually for anything unusual. Cruz didn’t seem to notice a bandage on her right ankle underneath her sock.
Instead, she said, he used his gloved hands and ran them over her breasts four times. CP also recalled him inserting fingers. She said she exclaimed, “What the hell?” but Cruz tried to deflect her discomfort with humor.
“The victim advised the defendant then stated, ‘Okay, you’re all right,’” the report said. “The victim advised that other than these two regions, the defendant did not check any other area of her body during the above described event. The victim advised that all of this transpired within a minute and a half.
“The victim advised that at no time did she give the defendant permission to touch her breast nor place his finger inside of her vagina.”
Cruz was arrested May 6. Online jail records say he was released May 8 after posting $205,000 bond.
This story was originally published December 1, 2019 at 4:03 PM.
