Pensacola Nurse is Arrested on
Sexual Misconduct Charge
Pensacola nurse James Bemis has been arrested for an alleged sex crimes committed upon a 63-year old disabled male patient at Baptist Hospital. The alleged incident occurred in March 2019 but the arrest was made this month after the Pensacola Police Department got results from a DNA they ran on the hospital bedsheets. In addition, hospital surveillance cameras captured the former Baptist Hospital Behavioral Medicine nurse enter a patient's room and stay inside the hospital room for 27 minutes, in the early morning hours before the patient reported he was sexually assaulted.
According to State Attorney filings, James Bemis was charged with sexual assault on an elderly or disabled person and indecent exposure. The alleged victim is a disabled adult. Prior to the arrest, on October 26, 2020, the Florida Department of Health filed an Administrative Complaint before the Board of Nursing against James Bemis, LP.N., for allegedly sexually abusing his patient while on duty at Baptist Hospital (1000 W. Moreno Street) in Pensacola, Florida. The Complaint requests that the Board of Nursing permanently revoke or suspend Bemis' nursing license, restricts practice, order Bemis to pay an administrative fine, and places him on probation. James Bemis is 71 years old and has been a licensed practical nurse in Florida since 1997.
The Complaint was filed in response to a report of sexual misconduct by Mr. Bemis on one of his patients in the hospital. According to the Complaint, the incident occurred on March 10, 2019. Mr. Bemis was caught on surveillance cameras entering his 63-year old male patient's room at 4:01 am and re-emerging from the patient room at 4:28 am. The patient reported the abuse to another nurse and told investigators that Bemis requested oral sex from him. After the man rejected Bemis's proposition, he said Bemis kissed him on the lips, told him that he loved him, groped him, and masturbated over the man. The patient was also confined to a wheelchair and is a disabled adult.
According to a police investigation, Bemis denied all of his accuser's claims and told police that his accuser had been on morphine at the time that had made him hallucinate. Bemis was employed at Baptist Hospital Behavioral Medicine for 46 years and had never received a prior complaint, the report stated. However, on December 24, 2019, a laboratory report from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement showed a DNA profile match between Bemis' DNA and semen found on the accuser's hospital blanket, the report stated. The investigators wrote that the patient was "helpless, confined and under the control of Bemis during the incident and unable to defend himself."
Bemis was placed on administrative leave and was terminated in April 2019. He was arrested on January 3, 2020, and charged with sexual assault and indecent exposure. It is unacceptable, immoral, and unlawful for any employee to touch a patient in a sexual manner.
Horowitz Law has filed numerous sexual misconduct claims against nurses and doctors on behalf of clients who were sexually assaulted at hospitals, private practices, and rehab centers. If you have been a victim of sexual assault or sexual battery under the care of a healthcare provider, or if you know someone who has, please contact our law firm at 888-283-9922 or send an e-mail to sexual abuse lawyer Adam Horowitz at adam@adamhorowitzlaw.com for a free consultation.