Patient sues Geneva hospital, claiming PTSD from hostage situation
A patient is suing Delnor Hospital, saying she suffered post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the May attack when a Kane County jail inmate took nurses hostage.
Victoria Weiland filed the suit this week in federal court.
She is also suing Kane County, Kane County jail guard Shawn Loomis and Apex3 Security LLC, the company the Geneva hospital hired to provide security.
Weiland's suit says she was a patient on the same third-floor unit as Tywon Salters the day, authorities say, he was left unshackled, overpowered Loomis, took the guard's weapon, and took nurses hostage.
The suit says Loomis didn't warn patients, staffers or others on the unit that Salters had escaped and instead hid in another room.
A message left with Lisa Taylor, the attorney representing Weiland, was not returned.
Lt. Pat Gengler, spokesman for the Kane County sheriff's office, which oversees the jail, said the office does not comment on ongoing litigation. And Christopher King, spokesman for Delnor, said the hospital does not comment on ongoing lawsuits.
The suit says Weiland heard screams from people she believed to be nurses, but the hospital did not provide any information to her, the suit says, and her room did not have a window, so she could not see what was happening outside. When she called 911, the suit says, Weiland was told to stay in her room. Nobody came in the room for an hour, according to the suit.
The suit also claims that the hospital, after Salters was killed by a SWAT team, gave her false information regarding injuries to the nursing staff.
Weiland has since been afraid to return to any medical facility for tests and treatment of medical conditions unrelated to the situation, according to the suit.
The suit also says Delnor Hospital should have had a security plan for dealing with jail inmates and that it is responsible because it hired Apex3 Security.
The suit does not say how old Weiland is, how long she had stayed in the hospital or why she was there. It says she is a Kane County resident. The third-floor unit is a medical-surgical unit for adults.
Salters, 21, was hospitalized after he ate one of his jail-issued sandals. He had been hospitalized earlier that week after ingesting cleaning fluid and hydrogen peroxide.
Several nurses, including the two taken hostage, have also sued the county, Loomis and Apex3.
Weiland's suit includes many of the allegations theirs does about jail guards using personal laptops and cellphones while guarding prisoners at the hospital, about Salters being watched by just one guard, and about how authorities should have known Salters was desperate to escape.
Weiland is seeking unspecified damages.
• Daily Herald staff writer Harry Hitzeman contributed to this story.