Woman blames CAMC for rape in public restroom

CHARLESTON - A woman has filed a suit against Charleston Area Medical Center after she was raped in a public restroom at Women and Children's Hospital.

The woman, identified only as Jane Doe, and her husband, John Doe, of Boone County, filed a suit June 14 in Kanawha Circuit Court, against CAMC, claiming it failed to provide adequate security.

According to the suit filed by Madison attorney Frank Venezia, on July 19, 2005, the woman was working as a secretary/medical transcriptionist for WVU Physicians of Charleston at a clinic in the Women and Children's Hospital Medical Office Building, which adjoins CAMC's Women and Children's Hospital.

The suit says at about 7 a.m., the morning of July 19, Jane Doe went to a public restroom across from her workstation to get water from the sink to make coffee.

When she entered the sink area, she claims her attacker emerged from hiding, and gagged and bound her.

"The assailant then assaulted, battered, and brutally raped Jane Doe," the suit says. "During the attack, the glass coffee pot broke and Mrs. Doe was forced down onto the shards of broken glass."

After the attack, the assailant escaped. He has not yet been identified.

According to the six-count lawsuit, the medical center did not provide proper security. As a result, Jane Doe and John Doe seek unspecified compensatory and punitive damages for loss of consortium and other injuries.

The case has been assigned to Judge Charles King.

Kanawha Circuit Court case number 07-C-1161