Quote:A Palm Beach County family went public yesterday with ugly allegations of sexual abuse at West Palm Hospital.

According to a lawsuit recently filed in circuit court, a troubled 9-year-old boy voluntarily submitted to the facility for psychological observation was abused by a hospital staffer known as "Mr. Dan."

If that's not bad enough on its own legs, the family's lawyer says the alleged abuser had previously been arrested in 2005 for exposing himself in a Lake Worth park. But the earlier pinch wasn't caught by the hospital's administration.

"It just violates the basic safety rules, starting with the fact that a children's hospital should not hire a man who has been arrested for masturbating in a park," says the family's attorney, Jeff Herman.

The boy -- listed only as John Doe in the filing -- entered the facility in May 2013. Herman says he was suffering from suicidal thoughts due to a head injury from the previous year. On Friday, May 24, the boy was assigned to work with "Mr. Dan," a "part-time floating counselor" who worked "with persons with a variety of mental health issues," the complaint says. That night, the boy was instructed to take a shower. Afterward, the man allegedly helped dry the boy off, even though the latter said "he did not need help drying off."

"Mr. Dan insisted and grabbed hold of JOHN's...