MARTINSBURG – A Tennessee resident is suing a West Virginia health care facility, claiming he was hospitalized there against his will in the medical center’s behavioral health unit.
Ralph E. Umphrey filed a lawsuit against West Virginia University’s Berkeley Medical Center of Martinsburg in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia on Jan. 7, challenging his treatment while a patient there.
In a handwritten statement, the plaintiff alleges that after a May 2 emergency room visit, he was admitted to the Behavioral Health unit despite an ER doctor allegedly not recommending such action. Umphrey states that he agreed to stay “a few days” but was kept there for 13 days, the complaint states.
Alleging a hospital worker made Charles Umphrey, the plaintiff’s father, his medical proxy without the plaintiff’s consent, Umphrey claims that he was given unnecessary medication and “overdosed with Invega Injections,” the suit states.
Umphrey indicated in his statement that he believes the hospital employees were “possibly involved” with Volunteer Behavioral Health of Tennessee, against which he avers that he has also filed suit for “being held prisoner there.”
The plaintiff continues on to state that unknown individuals “there also their involvement as Satanists know the people that comminicated [sic] with me thru [sic] tellecommunication [sic] device. Health Units [sic] plan was to kill me off but failed due to the grade of God.”
According to the complaint, Umphrey seeks $777,000 in damages. The plaintiff is currently self-represented. The judges assigned to the case are Gina M. Groh and Robert W. Trumble.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia case number 3:16-CV-00004-GMG-RWT
