Two more lawsuits filed over Ruby Memorial restroom cameras
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MORGANTOWN - On Friday, June 26, the senior charge nurse on duty in the pre- and post-operative area of Ruby Memorial Hospital known as 2 West was summoned to a staff restroom by a facilities team member.
The team member had found a camera while working beneath the restroom sink in the staff facility located near the Endoscopy procedure rooms (Area E).
As the charge nurse and team member were discussing the situation, Dr. Lance Parks, the anesthesiologist assigned to the Endoscopy rooms, stopped to ask what was happening.
Parks expressed concern over the situation and asked the facilities staff to let him see the device. They refused.
In the hours that followed, Parks would be identified by Morgantown Police as the individual who placed the device.
On June 30, a facilities team member responding to a report of a clogged toilet in a different staff restroom found a second recording device that someone had attempted to flush.
Parks, who began practicing as an attending anesthesiologist at Ruby Memorial Hospital in July 2011, was subsequently terminated and arrested.
He is facing eight misdemeanor counts of criminal invasion of privacy based on the footage found on the initial camera, and one felony count of distribution and exhibiting computer-generated child pornography based on evidence turned up during the execution of a search warrant at his residence.
On July 8, a detective with Morgantown Police informed the charge nurse that she was one of eight people identified in the recordings found on the hidden camera.
She still works in the same unit at Ruby Memorial Hospital, but since learning she was recorded, she has struggled emotionally. She has difficulty sleeping and wakes repeatedly during the night with racing thoughts. She has anxiety about going to work and has lost interest in hobbies, time with friends and keeping up with her household.
The above is just some of the information laid out in a lawsuit filed by the charge nurse, a 37-year employee of Ruby Memorial Hospital identified as S.P.
Hers is one of two suits filed in Monongalia County Circuit Court on Nov. 3 by hospital employees in response to the discovery of cameras in employee restrooms.
Both were filed by attorneys Rodney Smith and Sean Cook.
The lawsuits, which are very similar in nature, both list West Virginia University Hospitals, West Virginia University Medical Corp. and West Virginia United Health System as defendants.
Both suits identify plaintiffs by their initials, G.M. and S.P.
G.M., or Ms. M, is described as a registered nurse who has spent her entire 12-year employment at Ruby Memorial Hospital working in the Endoscopy unit on 2 West.
Her lawsuit says she would routinely use the Area E staff restroom three or four times during an 11-hour shift, but she has not been contacted about whether she was recorded.
Both lawsuits lay out five counts against the defendants - sexual harassment (hostile work environment); violation of the West Virginia Human Rights Act; negligent hiring, supervision and retention; negligence (premises security); and invasion of privacy.
Both lawsuits state a culture of sexual harassment and misconduct by physicians toward female employees was allowed to exist and provide an example claiming Parks once pulled a female nurse into his lap.
The lawsuit filed by M.S. notes that she previously pursued civil action after experiencing physical abuse by a different doctor at Ruby Memorial.
And both lawsuits state recording devices in hospital restrooms is a hazard known to the defendants, pointing to July 2025 incidents in a United Hospital Center staff restroom. UHC is a hospital in Bridgeport that operates under the WVU Medicine name. According to media reports, Ernest Dale Cottrill, of Grafton, was charged with five counts of criminal invasion of privacy following an investigation into those incidents.
In her lawsuit, M.S. notes Parks would routinely be in Area E, even when his assignments were in other areas of the hospital. When work was slow, the suit states, Parks would set up in a room directly across from the staff restroom.
It goes on to state, "Upon information and belief, Dr. Parks remarked to another nurse who worked in the same area that he had noticed how often she used the restroom."
For each of the five counts listed, both lawsuits state the defendants' acts or omissions were willful, wanton, and/or undertaken with reckless disregard and/or indifference to the rights of the plaintiff, entitling each to punitive damages in an amount to be determined by a jury.
The lawsuits filed by M.S. and S.P. bring the total to three in the wake of the camera discovery.
On Sept. 1, a class action lawsuit was filed against West Virginia University Hospitals Inc. and West Virginia United Health System Inc. by an individual identified as P.J.P. on behalf of herself and all others similarly situated.
According to that suit, P.J.P. is an employee who was secretly recorded.
That suit alleges invasion of privacy; breach of confidentiality; violations of the Human Rights Act; violation of the West Virginia Constitution; negligent supervision; negligent infliction of emotional distress; violation of the West Virginia Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Act; and negligence against the hospital system.
Attorneys for the defendants have since filed a pair of motions.
On Oct. 15, a motion was filed asking the court to stay the civil suit, including all discovery and the class-certification process, pending final resolution of the criminal proceedings against Parks.
The following day, Oct. 16, a second motion was filed, this one seeking "a more definite statement."
Legal counsel for the defendants pointed out that the plaintiff filed the action using only her initials but has not obtained leave of the court to proceed pseudonymously.
The motion also notes the defendant’s claim included no facts identifying which restroom or restrooms she allegedly used, when she used them, the period during which she contends any recording occurred, or what recordings or images of her may exist, if any.
"Without a more definite statement, Defendants are left to guess at the allegations they must admit, deny or defend against," the motion stated.