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Lawsuit: Male stripper did show at NY nursing home

WEST BABYLON, N.Y. — An 85-year-old woman with dementia had a male stripper gyrate in front of her against her will at her suburban New York nursing home, according to a lawsuit filed by her family, but the facility’s lawyer said the performance had been requested by its residents.

John Ray, the attorney for Bernice Youngblood and her family, said Tuesday that the woman’s son found a photograph of a man in white briefs dancing in front of his mother when he visited her in January 2013 at East Neck Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

The photo, which Ray distributed to reporters, shows Youngblood putting money into the dancer’s waistband. Ray said Youngblood had been urged to participate and did so against her will.

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Franklin Youngblood, who attended the news conference outside the Long Island facility, said he immediately went to a nursing supervisor for an explanation. The lawsuit claims the nurse attempted to grab the photo from him.

Ray said Bernice Youngblood, who herself had worked as a health aide for the elderly when she was younger, had her dignity taken away when ‘‘nursing home employees subjected her to this disgraceful sexual perversion.’’

Bernice Youngblood, who attended the news conference in a wheelchair, mumbled in a barely audible voice that she felt ‘‘terrible’’ and ‘‘ashamed’’ about what happened, but had no specific recollection of the details of the incident.

Associated Press