A third lawsuit has been filed against a Westmoreland County hospital and four former staffers accused of mistreating patients.
According to court documents, the alleged incidents occurred over five days in late June 2024 after Shirley Stouffer of Hempfield was admitted to Independence Health’s Westmoreland Hospital with heart issues and dementia.
The 14-count lawsuit contends nurses and administrators took and shared images of themselves mistreating patients, including Stouffer. In one alleged incident, the lawsuit claims a nurse induced Stouffer to cry, then recorded her while she believed she was on a phone begging in tears to go home.
“Defendants in this case had a contractual and fiduciary duty arising out of a special relationship with Shirley Stouffer,” the lawsuit states. “That duty and relationship arose out of the fact that given Shirley’s condition, there was a clear potential for deep emotional harm in the event that duty was breached.”
In addition to the hospital, the defendants include three former nurses and a health care aide.
“We are aware of developments related to the actions of former employees, whose conduct was in direct opposition to our core values and standards. These individuals are no longer employed by Independence Health System, and the criminal matters have been addressed by the courts,” Independence Health System said in a statement. “We cannot comment further at this time. The safety, privacy and dignity of our patients will always be our highest priority.”
The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
Greensburg police previously filed criminal charges against Peter Castellano and Melissa Tompkins.
Castellano, 37, of Pittsburgh’s Fineview neighborhood, and Tompkins, 37, of Baldwin, pleaded guilty last year to misdemeanor counts of abuse of a care-dependent person for inappropriately photographing and recording patients. In some photos, patients were naked or partially clothed inside their hospital rooms, police said.
During a court hearing last summer, prosecutors said a plea deal was struck to ensure Castellano and Tompkins served jail time, noting that sentencing guidelines made a jail stay unlikely had they been convicted at trial.
Both were sentenced to 30 days to one year in jail. Castellano began his sentence in late August and was paroled Sept. 18, according to court records. Tompkins reported to the Westmoreland County Prison in October and was paroled Nov. 3.
Prosecutors said an estimated 10 victims were inappropriately photographed and recorded.
The initial lawsuit in the matter was filed last November by the family of a 105-year-old woman who was a U.S. Marine Corps veteran. She died a month after her June 2024 hospitalization. Her family also claimed she was a victim of mistreatment by staff.
A month later, a second lawsuit was filed by a Hempfield woman who claimed she was photographed by hospital staff while in a state of undress.
Those lawsuits remain unresolved.