Hospital employee sues over nude photos taken during surgery

A Washington Hospital employee is suing the facility and several other employees after she claims she was photographed nude during her own surgery.

The Observer-Reporter was able to obtain a copy of the court filing, in which the plaintiff - identified only as Jane Doe - claimed she was photographed nude while a patient in the operating room in September 2016.

The photos were allegedly taken by a scrub nurse with a cell phone.

The victim was a current Washington Hospital employee during the time she required surgery.

Neither Doctor Dennis Brown, who was performing Jane Doe's incisional hernia surgery, nor the others present stopped or reported the nurse, according to the lawsuit.

The victim claims in her filing that the scrub nurse showed her the photos when she returned to work at the end of October 2016.

The next day, she was informed that the scrub nurse had shown the photos to several other co-workers. She was "in utter horror and shock," the suit claims.

Jane Doe reported the conduct to her supervisors and the nurse was fired, according to the legal document.

Although action was taken, Jane Doe's suit states that the hospital failed to protect her from "an increasingly hostile and abusive work environment." She claims she endured shame and humiliation knowing her co-workers had seen the pictures.

Jane Doe's lawsuit says that she "was now being treated like the wrongdoer - not the victim - and was forced to endure harassment, humiliation and backlash" from those she worked with.

The victim's work environment became extremely hostile, she claims.

A co-worker reportedly left a handwritten note that read, "What were you thinking?" and called her an obscene name.

Jane Doe took time off and, according to the lawsuit, was granted two weeks paid time in November for her own "well-being."

She returned to work, but said she suffered migraines, anxiety and insomnia. She sought medical treatment for all of these problems.

After taking unpaid leave under the Family Medical Leave Act, the hospital terminated Jane Doe's employment in October 2017.

She claims she continued to be harassed by her former co-workers outside the hospital.

"The dissemination of the pictures has stigmatized (Jane Doe)," the lawsuit read.

The hospital declined to comment on the case at this time.

Jane Doe and her husband, identified as John Doe, are seeking $75,000 from the hospital. No trial date has been set at this time.