Oregon nurse pleads guilty to sexually abusing emergency room patients

By Courtney Sherwood PORTLAND Ore. (Reuters) - An Oregon nurse pleaded guilty on Tuesday to sexually abusing women in a Portland hospital's emergency room and is expected to be sentenced to 15 years in prison under terms of a deal with prosecutors, a court administrator said. Jeffrey McAllister, 39, was accused of assaulting nine patients and a hospital colleague at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center between 2009 and 2013, including two woman hospitalized for miscarriages, several with psychological problems and one immobilized by a broken back, charging documents show. He was indicted last year after a complaint by one victim prompted a police investigation. Initially, he was accused of assaulting three women, but seven others came forward later to say they too had been victimized. McAllister pleaded guilty to seven counts of felony sex abuse, one count of unlawful sexual penetration, one count of attempted sex abuse and one count of patronizing a prostitute, a court administrator said. Rape, sodomy and other charges were dismissed as part of the plea deal. He will be formally sentenced later this month. Eight of McAllister’s victims are suing Legacy Emanuel for failing to investigate the nurse despite multiple patient complaints. That civil trial is scheduled to start in 2015. "We are glad that the criminal case has been resolved," Legacy Health, the parent company of the hospital where McAllister worked, said in a statement. "All of the caregivers at Legacy Health will continue to focus their efforts on providing high quality care for all of our patients." (Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Peter Cooney)