Graphic: A woman
has filed a lawsuit claiming that a nurse took this photo, of her which
has been pixelated, with pencils in her eyes following a failed suicide
attempt
A
woman who blinded herself by jabbing pencils in her eyes during a
suicide attempt is suing Los Angeles County, claiming her photo was
taken without her permission at a hospital and went viral online.
The suit was filed Monday by David Bliss, the guardian of the woman who survived her suicide attempt but lost her sight.
The
plaintiff claims unauthorized disclosure of medical information,
intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, breach of
duty and public disclosure of private facts.
The
woman, identified only as Jane Doe in the suit, was admitted to
County-USC Medical Center in 2012 after she tried to end her life at
another medical facility.
The
lawsuit says someone, believed to be a nurse, took an unauthorized
photo of her with yellow pencils sticking out of her eyes and shared it
with another person, who in turn sent it Joshua Shivers.
Shivers
used his mother Linda's computer to post the image to a ‘shock’
website, the suit stated, adding that the photo has since been viewed
more than 192,000 times. The specific website to which it was posted was
not disclosed.
On
the day the image was uploaded online, Shivers allegedly bragged about
his handiwork writing: 'I finally made it in life. Please check out my
shiz,' City News Service reported via Los Angeles Daily News.
Treatment: The patient, Jane Doe, was taken to County-USC Medical Center in 2012 after she tried to end her life
‘Everybody
knows that as soon as someone gets their hands on something like this,
it goes viral and the harm is done,’ said the plaintiff’s attorney,
Douglas Johnson, who specializes in privacy cases.
Johnson
said that before filing the lawsuit against the medical center and Los
Angeles County officials who administer the hospital, he asked them to
have the picture taken down from the Web by exercising a copyright they
hold over photo, since it was taken in their facility.
County
spokesman David Sommers said officials are investigating the
allegations in the lawsuit, and he declined to comment further.
The lawsuit also names as defendants Joshua Shivers and his mother, Linda. They could not be reached for comment.
Mother-son
duo: The lawsuit names Joshua Shivers (left), who allegedly used his
mother Linda's (right) computer to upload the patient's photo, which he
had received from a third party, onto a 'shock' website
The
woman who blinded herself has since received psychiatric help, learned
to read Braille and ‘gotten her life back on track’ by enrolling in
college, but she has fallen into depression since the photo spread
online, the lawsuit stated.
The legal action does not specify how much the woman is seeking in damages.
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