Nursing Home Sued After Hiring Male Strippers For Residents

The family of 86-year-old Bernice Youngblood is suing East Neck Nursing and Rehabilitation Center after the elderly woman was allegedly forced to engage with a male stripper during an activity sanctioned by the facility, reports CNN.

Youngblood, who is in a wheelchair and suffering from dementia, told WCBS that she was “shaken” and had no idea what was going on. Her son, Franklin Youngblood, discovered pictures of the stripper, dressed in nothing but “tighty whities,” in his mother’s possessions and immediately demanded answers.

“There’s too much sex and craziness that’s going on. Now they’re bringing it to the nursing home, and it don’t belong here,” he told WCBS.

According to a lawsuit filed last month, Bernice Youngblood, who the suit says has partial dementia, was “confused and bewildered” when the stripper approached her and directed her to “place her hands about and upon his body, including his genital area.”

The suit contends the home has hired male strippers on other occasions for the “perverse pleasure of the defendant’s staff.”

Franklin Youngblood said his mother was forced to tip the stripper with her own money, which is supposed to be locked away at the nurses’ station.

The suit is asking for a financial judgment of unspecified amounts from a jury at trial. It is unclear from the legal documents when the stripping incident occurred.

According to Howard Fensterman, an attorney representing the facility, the stripper was voted on and paid for by a panel of 16 residents.

The nursing home also claims that Youngsblood was chaperoned by her son’s girlfriend, a claim her family disputes.

“There is nothing inappropriate about it. These are adults,” Fensterman said.

But Attorney John Ray, legal council for the family, describes things differently:

“He had a fistful of dollars in his hand, and she was putting a dollar in his pants at his demand. He’s leaning over her. He’s not just standing there; he’s intimidating her. This might be great for 32-year-old single girls, but this is an 86-year-old traditional, African-American woman who doesn’t want white men sticking their private parts in her face.”

Source-News1