Nurse to Be Arraigned in Patients’ Fondling

A former nurse at Columbia West Hills Medical Center is facing charges that he sexually assaulted two male patients at the hospital, the Los Angeles city attorney said Thursday.

Gregory Scott Fisher, 40, of Valencia, is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in Van Nuys Municipal Court on three counts of misdemeanor sexual battery, the city attorney said.

Fisher is suspected of fondling patients in October 1997, and April of this year, said Ted Goldstein, a spokesman for City Atty. Jim Hahn.

The first incident involved a 36-year-old patient who said he was assaulted as he emerged from sedation, Goldstein said. “He was coming out of a morphine sleep and he became cognizant of what was happening to him,” Goldstein said. “He was awake enough to know what was happening.”

In the second incident, a 31-year-old man was allegedly fondled twice by Fisher during an April 6 visit to the medical center. “In that case, the victim’s parents were with him and [Fisher] asked them to step outside,” Goldstein said. “He drew the curtain around the bed and proceeded to inappropriately fondle the victim’s genital area.”

According to the patient, Goldstein said, Fisher later returned to the room and assaulted him a second time.

Prosecutors contend that Fisher committed the assaults under the guise of performing legitimate medical examinations.

Patient complaints to hospital officials were investigated by detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Valley station, Goldstein said.

Citing the advice of attorneys, medical center officials declined to answer questions about the incidents, saying only that Fisher was no longer employed at the West Hills hospital as a result of a “mutual decision.”

“Right now there is an active investigation going on and we cannot disclose any information,” said Brandon Faulk, the medical center’s vice president of business development.

If convicted, Fisher faces a maximum of one year in jail and fines of up to $1,000 on each count.