$225,000 Awarded to Woman Who Alleges She Was Raped by Nurse

A Woodland Hills woman who alleged that she was raped by an emergency room nurse has won a $225,000 settlement from Kaiser Permanente hospitals in a case that involved unsuccessful attempts to use advanced “genetic fingerprinting” techniques.

The award to Deborah Haywood was made by a three-man arbitration panel.

Haywood’s attorney said he would pursue further legal action against Kaiser Permanente, which maintains that there was no rape.

On Oct. 9, 1987, Haywood, then 29, was taken to the Kaiser Permanente hospital in Woodland Hills with multiple head and chest injuries suffered in a traffic accident. Police were summoned to the hospital after she accused nurse Steven P. Coyle of wheeling her out of the X-ray department into a secluded hospital room and raping her.

Her case attracted widespread attention from the law enforcement community because she insisted that a form of advanced DNA analysis, sometimes called genetic fingerprinting, be done on semen collected from her body to determine whether Coyle was the rapist. Law enforcement officials were reluctant to use Haywood as a test case for the promising new analysis because of various contradictions in the case.

The test was finally completed but was inconclusive because of improper storage of part of the semen sample. It was not considered in the $225,000 settlement signed by an arbitration board Wednesday and made public Friday.

From the beginning, Kaiser attacked Haywood’s credibility. Kaiser employees said in depositions that she had been drinking before the car crash and that she passed out for several hours shortly after reporting the rape.

Haywood filed suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court in March, 1988, against Kaiser, Coyle and an emergency room physician, Dr. Michael La Femina, citing examples of alleged negligence leading to the rape and interference with the subsequent investigation.

However, under the health plan contract her employer had signed with Kaiser, patients are required to submit complaints to a panel of three arbitrators, one picked by each side and one neutral.

Kaiser spokeswoman Janice Seib said Friday that the company would not appeal because the arbitration is binding. “We have no choice but to abide by the terms of this ruling,” Seib said.

But Haywood’s attorney, Jerry Zamos, said Haywood is not bound by the result of the arbitration because the original health plan contract was never meant to cover violent crimes.

Zamos said he plans to petition for a civil suit against the hospital and Coyle to seek additional damages, saying $225,000 is inadequate to address the psychological damage Haywood suffered.

He said he will ask the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office to consider resuming its investigation into possible criminal charges against Coyle, which were dropped when the DNA testing produced no evidence.

“We believe that if we can get a unanimous decision from three arbitrators, one of whom was picked by Kaiser . . . that the district attorney does have a responsibility,” Zamos said.