A Minnesota Department of Health report that substantiates allegations of maltreatment states Allina Health gave her different patients after the initial complaint
SAINT PAUL, Minn. — A horrible car crash the night before his high school graduation in 1999 changed life forever for Patrick from Saint Paul. He was left paralyzed from the chest down, and for the last several years he has been bedridden with worsening health.
“By any definition he is a vulnerable person,” said attorney Paul Applebaum. “He has horrendous pressure wounds, which he’s heavily medicated for. The isolation. The heavy pain he’s in. All of that makes him a vulnerable adult under the state statutes.”
Patrick’s attorneys Megan Curtis and Applebaum say in 2022, 26-year-old Kelsey Fulweiler, a home health nurse with Allina, began providing his care.
Within a couple months, text messages included in a lawsuit they filed show Fulweiler started getting personal: “Is it appropriate to open up about your relationship status to a patient?” she initially wrote.
And soon after, the messages detail the nurse and patient’s kissing and explicit sexual contact during her home health visits.
“She initiated the personal relationship, she blurred the boundaries, and then she led him into this romantic relationship. And she’s in a position of power and authority over him as his nurse,” Curtis said.
Patrick is now suing Fulweiler and Allina Home Health for sexual assault, medical malpractice, and negligence.
A Minnesota Health Department report that substantiates the allegations reveals that Allina received a complaint and that Patrick told them about the inappropriate romantic relationship, but the report says Allina reassigned Fulweiler, where she continued seeing other patients for another seven months.
After the lawsuit was filed, Fulweiler resigned and the state board of nursing suspended her nursing license for two years. But Patrick’s attorneys say Allina should have done more.
“The internal people who were supposed to monitor these things and take action virtually ignored it,”
Fulweiler’s attorney says her client has denied the claims in the lawsuit and has no comment for this story.
In a court filing, Fulweiler wrote: “After Patrick and I became acquainted in the course of our professional contact, Patrick and I developed an outside of work hours friendship, discussing mutual interests, including television shows (including online streaming shows), movies, music, etc. over the course of months. After several months, Patrick expressed romantic interest in me. With regard to any alleged sexual contact, on advice of counsel, I plead the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.”
An Allina Health spokesperson provided the following statement: “Allina Health holds patient safety in the highest regard. We expect all employees to uphold our high professional standards and treat patients with dignity and respect.
When Allina Health was made aware of the specific allegations in the complaint, the employee was terminated and reported to all appropriate agencies. We do not defend the actions of this former employee; however, we strongly dispute the lawsuit’s characterization of Allina Health’s conduct.”