Morgantown, W.Va.-based WVU Medicine faces a lawsuit filed by a former employee who alleges she was wrongfully fired, the West Virginia Record reported June 23.
Carol Patterson filed suit in Marshall Circuit Court; WVU Medicine and its Reynolds Memorial Hospital in Glen Dale, W.Va., are named. A WVU Medicine spokesperson told Becker's the health system does not comment on pending litigation.
Ms. Patterson, who worked as a secretary in a pediatrics physician's office from September 2017 to April 2020, claims she was wrongfully fired after being accused of improperly reviewing the electronic medical chart of a co-worker, according to the West Virginia Record. That accusation is false, and the defendants refused to provide proof that she had committed the act, the lawsuit said, according to the newspaper.
"Plaintiff denied at the time of her termination that she had committed such an act and demanded proof of wrongdoing from the defendants," the complaint states, according to the West Virginia Record. "The defendants fabricated the reason for the plaintiff’s termination and fired her from her employment without any due process whatsoever."
The lawsuit claims the termination violated state law and seeks compensatory and punitive damages.