UNION CITY — An East Bay woman has filed a lawsuit against Kaiser Permanente alleging that she was sexually assaulted by a medical assistant when she went in for a routine visit.
The woman in her late 30s, who is only named as “Jane Doe,” filed the civil lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court following the incident in January 2017, said her attorney Micha Star Liberty.
Doe went to the Union City Kaiser on Jan. 25, 2017 for a doctor’s visit. While she was in the examining room, a man later identified as Efrain Castanon entered the room. He allegedly grabbed her from behind, put his arm around her throat, while pushing her up against the medical bed, the lawsuit states.
He allegedly told her “I have something for you,” as he grabbed her hand and forced her to touch his bare penis.
“Even though Plaintiff was petrified, she pleaded with him to stop and threatened to scream if he didn’t stop,” said Liberty in a statement.
He also allegedly rubbed himself onto her backside, and she feared she would be raped, the lawsuit states. He also allegedly threatened her to not tell anyone.
Union City Police were called, and a Kaiser doctor allegedly told investigators that Kasier had complaints about the medical assistant, according to the lawsuit.
“While the facts of the assault are traumatic, what makes this case more offensive is that Kaiser had previous complaints about this employee, and yet they allowed him to continue to have access to female patients,” Liberty said.
Doe had seen him around the medical officers on previous occasions, although that day in January 2017 was the first time the two were in an exam room alone together, Liberty said.
Castanon was arrested and charged by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office with four felonies, including assault with intent to commit a sex crime, sexual battery by restraint, false imprisonment by violence and dissuading a witness from reporting a crime. He is currently awaiting trial and is not in custody.
But in the civil lawsuit, Doe alleges assault, battery, sexual battery, gender violence, false imprisonment, negligence, infliction of emotional stress, among others.
A Kaiser spokesman said that Castanon is no longer an employee of Kaiser. He said the medical group has not yet been served with the lawsuit.
“At Kaiser Permanente, the safety of our patients is our highest priority, and we will not accept behavior that puts them at risk. We take all allegations of misconduct seriously and we fully cooperated with law enforcement in their investigation,” the spokesman said.
The lawsuit names Castanon as well as Kaiser, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan.
