ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — A sexual assault lawsuit has been brought against a Smyrna mental health facility. Filed by the guardian of a 20-year-old woman on the autism spectrum, the suit claims the woman was raped by another patient while hospitalized at Ridgeview Institute. The woman told a staff member, who allegedly took no action to help. The suit also claims Ridgeview Institute has a history of patient safety concerns, with more than 50 complaints prompting state inspections in the past eight years alone, according to the Georgia Department of Community Health’s Healthcare Facility Regulation Division. “The victim’s guardian is pleading with authorities to demand immediate improvement in how Ridgeview protects patients or to simply shut down the beleaguered facility before another person is sexually assaulted or victimized,” the Atlanta-based Edmund Firm said of their client. According to the suit, the woman with autism has the mind of a 5-year-old, prompting her guardianship. But despite the legal measure, she was allegedly transferred from Wellstar Douglas Medical Center to Ridgeview Institute on April 13 without her guardian’s knowledge. The woman was hospitalized for four days, during which she was sexually assaulted by a male patient, according to the suit. The woman allegedly told a staff member, but the member didn’t tell her supervisors, police or the guardian, the suit says. When she was released, the woman told her guardian about the assault…
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