A man who allegedly experienced sexual abuse from a male paediatric nurse at the Launceston General Hospital (LGH) is taking legal action against the State of Tasmania.

The civil lawsuit relates to alleged abuse that he experienced in 1989 as a child patient at LGH being treated in the paediatric ward for abdominal pain and pneumonia.

The Health Service has previously been served with statements of claim by other victim-survivors alleging abuse.

A writ lodged in the Supreme Court of Victoria on August 17 by the plaintiff’s law firm, Arnold Thomas and Becker, outlines details of alleged abuse by another LGH nurse.

The lawsuit alleges that the abuse occurred in November 1989 in the hospital kitchen in Ward 4K when the nurse informed the child that he needed to check his stomach.

Principal Lawyer at Arnold Thomas & Becker, Kelly Pullan (née Schober) said the “LGH and the Tasmanian Health Service ought to have known that children at the Hospital could be at risk of physical and sexual abuse by [the male nurse].”

“We allege that they failed in their duty to protect these children.”