Dec 28, 2017 3 min read

The former Washington Hospital employee who sued the institution after photos of her private parts allegedly were taken during surgery there and later shared was a willing participant in a practical joke that led to the photos being taken, a hospital spokesman said in a statement.

An Observer-Reporter news article revealed Wednesday the contents of a 39-page complaint filed earlier this month in Washington County Court and sought comment from the hospital, which declined to shed any light on the matter as the story was being prepared Tuesday for publication.

The plaintiff, identified only as Jane Doe in the lawsuit, said she reacted with “utter horror and shock” when she returned to her job in 2016 as a unit secretary in the operating room department and learned that photos, taken with a cellphone as she lay unconscious during hernia surgery, had been disseminated among her co-workers.

But after the article appeared Wednesday on the front page, hospital administrators apparently changed their minds about not commenting, and Larry Pantuso, vice president for strategy and clinical services at Washington Health System, emailed a statement that described Jane Doe’s participation in a prank.

“Ms. Doe initiated and participated in the circumstances giving rise to her lawsuit by bringing fake intestines in the (operating room) and requesting that they be placed on her abdomen at the time of the surgical procedure as a practical joke on her friends, co-workers and surgeon.

“Unfortunately, the object was photographed and that image was shared with Ms. Doe. Notwithstanding her actions, the hospital promptly initiated disciplinary action against employees who violated its policy on patient privacy.”

The scrub nurse from Wheeling, W.Va., accused of photographing Jane Doe’s genitals during surgery and sharing the photos with co-workers reportedly lost her job over the episode.

Jane Doe said in her lawsuit she was subjected to “an increasingly hostile and abusive work environment,” receiving a handwritten note that called her a crude name. Jane Doe was given time off and then took unpaid leave, but she was not assigned to another department and was eventually fired, the suit said.

Pantuso’s statement said the hospital afforded Ms. Doe accommodations to facilitate her return to work, and she refused those accommodations.

A voicemail message indicated the hospital wouldn’t elaborate.

“Unfortunately we can’t have any other response except for our written response,” Pantuso said in the message.