Utah Officials Confront Complex Dilemma Over Nursing Home Staff-Resident Sexual Relationships
Utah state officials are increasingly grappling with a troubling and complex ethical dilemma surrounding reports of unlicensed staff members at nursing homes and long-term care facilities engaging in consensual sexual relationships with elderly residents. While such relationships are not explicitly illegal under current professional rules or state laws, authorities warn they create significant vulnerabilities and power imbalances for the vulnerable elderly population in care.
Disturbing Incidents Highlight Growing Concern
Several specific incidents have brought this issue to the forefront of public and legislative attention. In one particularly alarming case, an 18-year-old high school student working at a nursing home reportedly began having sex with multiple residents and encouraged his friends to apply for jobs at similar facilities. This was detailed in local media reports that have sparked widespread concern.
Other documented cases include a nursing assistant who started a sexual relationship with a resident more than 50 years her senior, and a physical therapy aide who was discovered by police attempting to have sex with an 80-year-old woman who had been reported missing. When questioned by authorities about his motivations, the aide reportedly stated, "No. But she wanted me to, and I was willing," according to Kaye Lynn Wootton, director of the Medicaid Fraud and Patient Abuse Division within the Utah Attorney General's Office.
The Legal and Ethical Gray Area
Wootton has been vocal in warning state lawmakers about the problematic nature of these relationships, even when they appear consensual. "Imagine when that relationship, if there was a real relationship, goes south," she told legislators during testimony last year. "Those same people have to bathe them and dress them. And it's just inappropriate and puts these people in a very bad position."
While non-consensual contact between staff and patients in long-term care facilities is clearly illegal, and licensed caregivers such as doctors or nurses face professional conduct rules prohibiting even consensual sexual relationships with patients, these same prohibitions do not extend to unlicensed staff. This includes certified nursing assistants (CNAs), housekeepers, food service employees, and other support personnel who work closely with residents but lack formal professional licensing.
Legislative Efforts and Opposition
State Senator Jennifer Plumb, who works as an emergency room doctor when not serving in the legislature, sponsored a bill last year that would make such relationships illegal. During her work on the legislation, she heard disturbing accounts of individuals "who had jumped from one facility to another facility to another facility" while becoming entangled in inappropriate relationships at each location.
"I think this is happening frequently enough we probably need to look at what sort of standard we can set up and what sort of protections we can put in place," Senator Plumb stated. She acknowledged that introducing licensing requirements for these positions would be ideal but impractical, noting "there was no way as a state that we could do that." Instead, she argued for criminal penalties: "Otherwise, we are not going to be able to track these and we are also not going to be able to disincentivize it."
Arguments Against Criminalization
Not all stakeholders agree with the criminalization approach. Nate Crippes, an attorney with the Disability Law Center, has argued against making these relationships illegal, contending that such laws would unfairly punish only one side of consensual relationships and could be discriminatory.
"My colleague uses a wheelchair," Crippes explained. "And if each of us were to engage in sexual conduct with a nurse who was providing us care or something like that, it would be a crime for that nurse if she or he did that with him but not with me. And that really seemed discriminatory to us."
Crippes suggested that existing accountability systems might be working adequately, pointing out that unlicensed staff members engaging in inappropriate relationships are often fired from their positions. He questioned whether criminalization was the appropriate solution for what he characterized as an employment discipline issue rather than a criminal matter.
The debate continues as Utah officials, healthcare providers, disability advocates, and legislators struggle to balance concerns about elderly vulnerability, personal autonomy, professional boundaries, and legal enforcement in long-term care settings where power dynamics are inherently unequal.
