Mental health patient Lisa Flanagan claims her rape at Melbourne Clinic was covered up

A woman raped by another patient at the Melbourne Clinic has launched legal action, amid claims staff tried to cover up the assault and then forced her to leave the mental health facility.

Lisa Flanagan says she suffers PTSD after being raped by another patient at the Melbourne Clinic in Richmond.

A woman raped by another patient at a mental health clinic has launched legal action amid claims staff told her not to go to police and tried to cover the assault up.

Lisa Flanagan says she suffers post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and fears stepping inside hospitals after she was brutally assaulted by another patient who climbed into her bed at the Melbourne Clinic in Richmond in March 2019.

Unable to push her attacker off and with her pleas ignored, Ms Flanagan said the attack lasted 20 minutes and only stopped when the patient fell out of bed and others came to her aid.

She reported the incident the following morning to staff who, she alleges, lied and told her police had been called.

“They told me the police were coming and the police never turned up,” she said.

She also alleges the other patient was permitted to stay in a room opposite her own with “complete freedom and in unrestrained proximity” despite assurances they would be moved.

It’s claimed the rape was covered up by staff. Picture: Tinnakorn Jorruang

Ms Flanagan said the clinic discouraged her from going to police before they “forcibly discharged” her about a week later by using her sudden weight loss as an excuse.

“They weren’t asking the (other patient) to leave, it was me that had to go,” she said.

Ms Flanagan was suicidal and begged to stay but said her concerns were ignored.

“I was sitting in a room by myself crying asking ‘please don’t make me leave’,” she said.

“They slammed the door of this small room I was in and that was that.”

Ms Flanagan’s attacker was this month found guilty of rape and sexual assault.

But she said it was her treatment by staff that made her feel “broken” and “hopeless”.

“It was just like shooing a dog away,” she said.

“They didn’t care as long as I was quiet.”

Ms Flanagan is suing Melbourne Clinic’s parent company Healthscope in the County Court for loss and damages, alleging it breached its duty of care by failing to protect her.

“I look in the mirror and I don’t know who I am anymore,” she said.

“I can’t work, I have no life, it’s changed me into someone that I don’t know.”

Shine Lawyers Abuse Law Solicitor, Lauren Domijan, who is representing Ms Flanagan, said her client was failed on multiple fronts.

“An attack like this is incredibly traumatising, but the alleged failure by the clinic to handle the incident in an appropriate and trauma informed manner has compounded that pain for Lisa,” she said.

“I would implore anybody who may have encountered a similar situation to take courage from our client and come forward.”

Ms Flanagan said she was speaking out because no one else deserved to go through what she had.

“They never helped me … and they lied,” she said.

“I don’t want it to happen to anyone else and I don’t want them to be able to hide.”

Healthscope declined to comment.