A woman who worked as a contractor at D.C.’s Providence Hospital says she was attacked by rats, which also chewed on dead bodies in the morgue. At attorney for the Northeast hospital says there’s “no truth to the allegations.”
Doris Kennard told her story to Fox 5:
“They were going into places like the anal area, the vaginal area, the pubic area of the males,” Doris Kennard said. “That’s where they would get in.”
Kennard also told the TV news station that she was often forced to work alone, which led to this:
One shift almost proved deadly when a rat attacked her and put her in the hospital with a number of health exams.
“They were getting inside of the bags,” she said. “They were actually gnawing inside of the bags and leaving the remnants of where they were eating to get inside of the bags. Parts of the bag on the tray. I saw scratches on the bodies.”
According to D.C. Superior Court records, Kennard was awarded $237,000 by a jury on July 18 of this year in a civil case against Providence. A gift shop at the hospital was closed in December 2013 and January 2014 by the Health Department for rodents.
“We vehemently disagree with the verdict and will file an appeal,” Providence’s attorney Hugh W. Farrell said in a statement. “At the time of the alleged incident, a thorough investigation was completed by the Hospital and the District of Columbia Department of Health which revealed no truth to the allegations. There was absolutely no evidence of the alleged rat activity. We look forward to correcting this verdict on appeal.”
