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Nonprofit can be liable for harassment of patient

Nonprofit can be liable for harassment of patient

Nonprofit can be liable for harassment of patient

A nonprofit healthcare organization can be liable for the sexual harassment of a patient by an employee of the organization, the Supreme Court of Washington has held. The Court said the organization can be strictly liable under the state anti-discrimination law and rejected the nonprofit’s argument that the standard of liability used for employment cases should apply to a claim under the public accommodations provision of the law. The case arose when a patient of the nonprofit Group Health Cooperative complained that an employee repeatedly sexually harassed him while he was seeking medical treatment. The trial court dismissed the claim on summary judgment, presumably pursuant to the...

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