An anonymous patient filed a lawsuit against Charlottesville-based University of Virginia Medical Center's CEO and medical staff June 12, claiming officials administered medical tests on the patient without her consent, according to NBC29.
Here are four things to know:
1. An attorney for anonymous patient "Jane Doe" filed the lawsuit on the patient's behalf June 12, stating the hospital violated the woman's right to refuse medical treatment when she was brought to the hospital's emergency room after a suicide attempt. The lawsuit names UVMC CEO Pamela M. Sutton-Wallace, along with several physicians and nurses, according to the report.
2. According to the lawsuit, the patient refused to have her blood drawn, but medical personnel allegedly proceeded to administer drugs, and restrained the woman and inserted a catheter after she refused to provide a urine sample. The woman claims to have suffered post-traumatic stress disorder after the incident.
3. The patient's attorney told NBC29 the hospital violated his client's rights and that the medical staff's treatment of the woman was "simply unethical," the report states.
"There doesn't seem to be any question in these medical records that [Jane Doe] was fully competent to make these decisions. Now, they may not have liked the decisions that she was making, but that's not their option. She has the right to make decisions about her life or her body," the attorney said, adding, "It may well be that the doctors have the best intentions to save their clients or the Hippocratic oath, or whatever, but it is simply unethical to treat somebody that does not want to be treated."
4. The University of Virginia Medical Center told NBC29 the institution does not comment on pending litigation.