Sex assault allegations at Austin State Hospital

Austin attorney Scott Ogle says he is representing a woman who worked at the Austin State Hospital 32 years ago. “She was pregnant, with her twins. There was a patient who kicked her in the stomach,” said Ogle.

That kick caused one of the twins to have special needs and have a stint placed in her brain. The stint gave her complications and as an adult she was committed to the Austin State Hospital in early 2016.

“A week after she was thrown in the Austin State Hospital, she gets raped. Rather than wait until there was a rape kit administered, the hospital staff recommended she go and clean up, which we believe, may have been the first step toward trying to cover up what appears to be a weekly occurrence of rape allegations,” said Ogle.

The woman says it was a fellow patient who raped her that day.

FOX 7 researched and found several reports of sex assault at the hospital just within the last month. We uncovered countless cases dating back to January, and Ogle says there is even more.

“From 2010-2015, there have been 393 reports of rape at the Austin State Hospital, of those, 388 have been closed,” said Ogle. Ogle and the woman's mother filed a lawsuit on her behalf.

We reached out to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission who runs the Austin State Hospital who said they won't comment on the pending  litigation. But did say in a statement in part quote:

“Patient safety is our main concern and we're always looking at ways to make our state hospitals a safer place for patients and staff. We've  made many state hospital system improvements and policy changes to enhance patient safety since 2011.”

Ogle and his client, he says they aren't looking for money, they just want to make a difference.

“The police don't seem to be on top of the investigations,” said Ogle.