Sexual Molestation at the Sleep Lab

If the accused is guilty, he should be made an example out of, hopefully he'll get the maximum sentence.

Show no tolerance for this sort of behavior.

There may be plenty of blame to go around. A search of Sleepcenters.org fails to show "The Superior Medical Sleep Lab" in "Amherst, OH" as being accredited. There is a standard for accreditation regarding video recording:

Standard D-12 – Video Recording
Each testing bedroom in the facility must have a mechanism for visual monitoring and video recording of patients during testing. Time delayed photographs will not be considered compliant with this standard.

While the "criminal" penalties in this case may or may not satisfy some people, next comes the "civil" actions:

Nationwide Employee Screening, Inc. Blog
Woman sues sleep clinic
Woman sues sleep clinic, technician
(Source- http://www.chroniclet.com/2009/04/07/ro ... il-7-2009/ )

ELYRIA — A woman who police and prosecutors say was molested by a former technician at an Amherst sleep clinic has sued the technician and the clinic.

The technician, Mina Roufail, of Parma Heights, is currently facing gross sexual imposition and sexual imposition charges for allegedly molesting five victims at Superior Medical Sleep Lab last year.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Lorain County Common Pleas Court, accuses the sleep clinic of negligence for hiring Roufail and failing to properly supervise him.

The clinic should also have had video cameras monitoring patients.

The clinic began using cameras after the allegations against Roufail surfaced.

Sounds like they've got the checkbook out already.

It seems quite obvious to me that the Sleep Laboratory, whether it was accredited or not, failed to provide what is considered "standard of care", which would have helped to protect patient, staff and organization. Yeah, I'll bet they're happy now with all the money they saved by not getting a night-vision video recording system and/or seeking accreditation.

Keep in mind what a boor Mike is by trying to lure patients to his site and his online CPAP Supplies Store, which ranks pretty much up there with "gross sexual imposition".

Muffy

Riv wrote:If the accused is guilty, he should be made an example out of, hopefully he'll get the maximum sentence.

Show no tolerance for this sort of behavior.

The punishment for people that do these things is almost a waste of time. This person won't get enough to say so. The sleep lab will get sued, and they probably should, but the real criminal will get off with a "slap".The bar needs to be raised high enough on punishment (and carried out) so people give a second thought before they do the things their doing to all of us. Criminals in this country have no fear of the consequences for their actions.
Just my $.02 Larry...

Riv wrote:If the accused is guilty, he should be made an example out of, hopefully he'll get the maximum sentence.

Show no tolerance for this sort of behavior.

The punishment for people that do these things is almost a waste of time. This person won't get enough to say so. The sleep lab will get sued, and they probably should, but the real criminal will get off with a "slap".The bar needs to be raised high enough on punishment (and carried out) so people give a second thought before they do the things their doing to all of us. Criminals in this country have no fear of the consequences for their actions.
Just my $.02 Larry... Sleepy Boy..

Muffy, what is your problem w/SleepGuide?? Its a good apnea support forum. Mike seems like a nice enough guy. SleepGuide certainly is not going to weaken or take away from cpaptalk! So why the constant potshots at him? TAS is a good apnea support forum that doesn't take away from cpaptalk and I don't see you taking potshots at Tracy or TAS. There's room for all these apnea support groups, there's no need for constant potshots at the others.

I agree with Muffy. This highly-atypical sexual scandal news story only serves to incite lucrative traffic---not to help people on this message board. The story is highly atypical of sleep professionals. The story instills fear and anxiety among readers. And the story does an absolutely fantastic job of driving lucrative traffic over to sleepguide and ultimately apnealife.com.

Muffy wrote:Keep in mind what a boor Mike is by trying to lure patients to his site and his online CPAP Supplies Store, which ranks pretty much up there with "gross sexual imposition".

Note that sleepguide owns the prominently displayed online store at the sleepguide site:
http://www.networksolutions.com/whois-s ... ealife.com


I guess that explains why Mike drops inflammatory posts on this message board, pointing everybody to his sleepguide message board. The obvious end objective is to siphon lucrative traffic from here to there----where reader$ get expo$ed to hi$ online $tore, apnealife.com.

Kebsa,

What you describe is not a good topic for humor. I assume this happened to you as a child which makes it totally abhorrent.

But no one made it a topic of humor here. You threw it into the discussion.

Rooster
CPAP: No help for political incorrectness.

Slinky wrote: TAS is a good apnea support forum that doesn't take away from cpaptalk and I don't see you taking potshots at Tracy or TAS. There's room for all these apnea support groups, there's no need for constant potshots at the others.

I guess the big difference is that you don't see Tracy dropping sensational, inflammatory stories on this web site, pointing readers to TAS. And you don't see Johnny dropping sensational, inflammatory stories on Tracy's site, driving traffic over here.

You would never see either of those two fine, upstanding figures dropping a boatload of potential anxiety about PSG sleep studies and sexual molestation onto the patient population----let alone to generate traffic and business.

What good is a highly bizarre sexual-molestation thread to so many patients who are already distrusting and uncomfortable of the medical establishment?

This thread pisses me off. Period.

-SWS wrote:I agree with Muffy. This highly-atypical sexual scandal news story only serves to incite lucrative traffic---not to help people on this message board.

Muffy wrote:Keep in mind what a boor Mike is by trying to lure patients to his site and his online CPAP Supplies Store, which ranks pretty much up there with "gross sexual imposition".

which is why i never click on any links posted by sleep guide
i cant believe others havent seen this poaching behavior
never has anything good to contribute, Really

I do wish Mike would quit posting links to his website here. Mike, You are fostering an unprofessional, untrusty reputation for yourself.

I disagree with -SWS comments about this news article being inappropriate for this site. In fact, I think among the cpaptalk veterans is the best place to have it publically aired.

-SWS, To your point about patients (potential patients) being scared off, the article is already widely distributed in the news media with zero reassurance for potential patients. Unfortunately they would have to dig for it, but if some uninitiated potential patients wander here they could find:

Muffy wrote:............
It seems quite obvious to me that the Sleep Laboratory, whether it was accredited or not, failed to provide what is considered "standard of care", which would have helped to protect patient, staff and organization. Yeah, I'll bet they're happy now with all the money they saved by not getting a night-vision video recording system and/or seeking accreditation.

..............Muffy

I hope some more veterans will chime in with info about what goes on in a well-run sleep lab.

(Topic for another day, but the incident is just one more example of the advantages of home testing. )

Rooster
CPAP: Making you strong enough to punch out gropers.

rooster wrote:-SWS, To your point about patients (potential patients) being scared off, the article is already widely distributed in the news media with zero reassurance for potential patients. Unfortunately they would have to dig for it, but if some uninitiated potential patients wander here they could find...

I think the majority of people exposed to that article here, would not have otherwise been exposed to it.

I agree that this message board is a perfect place for open discussion. On that note I question Mike's apparent business motives for dropping that article here.

Will the discussion lead to better health care standards or perhaps even a better criminal investigation? Probably not. Will that anxiety-laced news story and discussion lead to more traffic and business revenue for Mike? Absolutely. Will it lead to at least some patients now having considerably less comfort at the prospect of taking a potentially life-saving PSG? Probably...

Not only is free speech truly wonderful, but some times free enterprise conveniently exploits it at the expense of others.

Oh gimme a break! IF someone is looking for an excuse NOT to agree to an in-lab sleep study they will grab at ANY excuse not to. Some of you are way over-reacting in my view of the situation. I don't see ANY apnea support forum EVER giving cpaptak any kind of run for their money. And I see no need to be so "over protective". The freedom in this forum is its strength as Johnny wisely figured out quite some time ago now.

I happen to enjoy and have learned from apneasupport, from TAS, from sleepguide and from cpaptalk. Whilst cpaptalk has my heart and greatest loyalty I don't intend to let that keep me from frequenting the other forums as well.

Slinky wrote:Oh gimme a break! .........

(((hugs))) to you to, Rooster!

Slinky wrote:IF someone is looking for an excuse NOT to agree to an in-lab sleep study they will grab at ANY excuse not to.

Those patients are not the ones of concern here IMHO. Rather:

Slinky wrote:Some of you are way over-reacting in my view of the situation.

Thank you for pointing out that not everyone will react to a highly sensational PSG sexual-molestation story exactly the same way that Slinky does. And do those higher-anxiety patients report in to a PSG with Slinky's feelings about the topic, or do they report in to the PSG with their own feelings? ...If they report in at all after reading that story.

I personally found absolutely no offense in the comic relief that DreamStalker interjected earlier. I personally loved his comment. His comment won't keep anyone away from a PSG. And I agree that some patients will grasp at any excuse to avoid a PSG. But what does that have to do with the fact that this sensational, anxiety-laced, and highly-atypical news story will likely be a source of PSG anxiety for some people who view things very differently than Slinky, DreamStalker, and -SWS?

And doesn't that get back to my central point? We know there can be some negative emotional aspects regarding how some people who need a PSG will receive this sensational and highly atypical story. That's a given IMHO. Are there bottom-line benefits to offset that potential human emotional toll? I would sincerely like to hear valid discussion points addressing how a highly atypical PSG sexual-molestation story accomplishes likelihoods contrary to these:

Will the discussion lead to better health care standards or perhaps even a better criminal investigation? Probably not. Will that anxiety-laced news story and discussion lead to more traffic and business revenue for Mike? Absolutely. Will it lead to at least some patients now having considerably less comfort at the prospect of taking a potentially life-saving PSG? Probably...

The PSG experience is psychologically an inherently vulnerable experience for some patients in the first place. Throw highly-unlikely sexual molestation into the PSG mix and you have now potentially introduced even higher PSG anxiety. And IMHO, a valid argument is not: "Gimme a break, people shouldn't feel that way since I don't personally have that particular feeling of sexual vulnerability or PSG mistrust.".