A New York nursing home that hired strippers to entertain residents will face legal charges, following an unsuccessful bid to have the case dismissed.
Franklin Youngblood filed the suit earlier this year, after he discovered a photograph of a scantily clad male stripper gyrating above his mother, 85-year-old Bernice Youngblood. She has advanced dementia and was not able to consent to the activity, which caused emotional injuries, the complaint asserted.
Suffolk County Justice Paul Baisley has ruled that the emotional injury claim can be tried, the New York Law Journal recently reported. Franklin Youngblood also can pursue allegations that the nursing home paid for the stripper in part from his mother’s commissary account. The judge dismissed claims that Franklin Youngblood himself experienced emotional injuries due to the incident.
The nursing home, owned by Cassena Care, maintains that the residents voted to hire the stripper. It rejects arguments that Bernice Youngblood — who still is a resident — lacked the capacity to consent.
“Mrs. Youngblood says she has capacity to sue,” defense attorney Robert Margulies said, according to the Law Journal. “Why doesn’t she have capacity to choose to enjoy this type of entertainment?”
