Lawsuit in Burlco over mock holdup
A pharmacy worker says she was traumatized by the unannounced safety exercise in 2007.
On the day before Christmas 2007, a masked gunman entered a health-center pharmacy and demanded OxyContin, according to a lawsuit filed in Burlington County.
Pharmacy technician Babette Perry of Mount Laurel said the man burst in and told her he was holding another worker hostage, according to her account of that day.
Perry, 46, says she tried to call for assistance but the phone wasn't working.
"Ms. Perry believed that the gunman was capable of shooting her or holding her hostage," according to the lawsuit, filed last month.
Afterward, Perry found out the incident had been staged. The "hostage," Polly Costantini, director of human resources at the Hampton Behavioral Health Center, told her it was a safety drill designed by Hampton and its parent company, Universal Health Services Inc. of King of Prussia, the lawsuit states.
Hampton and Universal are named as defendants in the suit.
The gunman was an employee of the company, and a decoy had been set up on the phone to thwart Perry's call for help, according to the suit.
Matthew Klein, general counsel for Universal Health Services, refused to comment on the case. Perry's attorneys could not be reached.
According to the lawsuit, Perry was never told she would be subjected to such a drill and was not trained to handle such a situation.
Babette Perry could not be reached for comment about the lawsuit.
Since the staged holdup, the lawsuit states, Perry has been seeing a therapist, has suffered from insomnia, and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
She stayed home from work on the anniversary of the drill and has been prescribed medication for depression, anxiety, and panic disorder, the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit charges Hampton and Universal with assault, false imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and seeks compensatory and punitive damages.
