14 JANUARY 26-FEBRUARY 1, 2023 westword.com WESTWORD | MUSIC | CAFE | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | LETTERS | CONTENTS | “The cameras give patients who are un- conscious the belief that someone is watch- ing them and protecting them,” Rathod continues. “So if they were monitoring these cameras, why didn’t they see the multiple assaults by nurse Lambros?” That question is key to M.C. and her husband, whose photo of the camera in his wife’s room is part of the fi rst lawsuit. “I saw it and I felt safer,” he says — but not for long. M.C. was intubated at St. Mary’s on July 9, 2022, and her husband was by her side on and off throughout the day. “They couldn’t fi gure out what was going on, so they wanted to do a biopsy,” he explains. “I went back and spent another hour with her, but she was really out of it.” Three days later, on July 12, the opera- tion was about to take place when M.C.’s husband, accompanied by his son, was ap- proached by two members of the hospital staff. “They took us into an offi ce and said a nurse was caught taking naked pictures” of M.C. by a fellow employee, he says. This discovery prompted the inquiry into Lambros that led to his arrest. For M.C., fi nding out what had happened to her was “devastating.” Her husband had waited to inform her until she was out of the hospital, she recalls: “He said he had something to tell me, and I thought he was going to tell me I had cancer. But that’s when he told me I was sexually assaulted at St. Mary’s.” At fi rst, she says, “I didn’t believe him. I thought, ‘Really? Seriously?’ But then I was in shock that something like that could happen to me in the ICU. You go to the hospital to be safe. That’s the last place in the world I would ever think something like that would happen to you.” Over the intervening months, M.C. says, the mental trauma has made the challenge of recovering physically more diffi cult. “I’ll be sitting in my room and start bawling. Some- thing will snap inside me, and if someone touches me, I freak out.” She’s just as triggered by the medical center. “I had to go back to St. Mary’s one other time to get something done with my heart — but I’ll die at home fi rst before I go back there again,” she vows. “That’s unfor- tunate to say, but St. Mary’s is to blame for this. They hired that monster, and they had to know something was going on if he had been doing it for that many years.” Asked about Lambros, St. Mary’s and its corporate owners issued a statement veri- fying that his employment was terminated after the arrest. “The safety of our patients is our highest priority, and we take this mat- ter very seriously,” it continues. “We have zero tolerance for anyone who engages in the abuse or mistreatment of our patients. Immediately following the reported con- cern, the hospital placed Chris Lambros on administrative leave, removed his access to the hospital and patients, and reported the matter to local law enforcement.” A quote from St. Mary’s president Bryan Johnson underscores these remarks: “What this former nurse is accused of is reprehen- sible and goes against everything we believe and value at St. Mary’s Medical Center. Pa- tients put their trust in us and should feel safe in our care. We are working closely with law enforcement to protect our patients from those who intend to cause harm. We are doing everything possible to ensure our patients continue to feel safe and respected while receiving care at St. Mary’s Medical Center.” St. Mary’s has set up a call center “to directly connect people with a patient rep- resentative so they can get information about their individual care,” the statement adds. The number is 970-298-2273. Scott Burrill, the public defender repre- senting Lambros, says he is statutorily prohib- ited from commenting on the case. But Mesa County DA Rubinstein, who’s overseeing the criminal prosecution, is under no such restrictions. He confi rms that Lambros was originally “charged with incidents relating to two victims. But we advised the court at a re- cent bond hearing that there were four unique victims, of which three have been identifi ed.” That’s Rathod’s understanding, too. J.V. and M.C. are the fi rst two victims, “one is deceased — and I don’t know who the fourth one is,” he says. “We were advised by the civil attorneys about their intention to fi le the case and were assured by them that they will work with us to ensure their case will not have any nega- tive impact on our prosecution,” Rubinstein notes. “Both the civil attorneys, as well as the representatives from St. Mary’s, have been communicating with us as we try to navigate the complicated situation of protecting the victims’ HIPAA rights” — enshrined in the Health Insurance Portability and Account- ability Act of 1996 — “while still getting us the information needed to prosecute the criminal matter.” Lambros’s next in-person court appearance is scheduled for February 24, and Rubinstein says, “We are still investigating. We cannot comment on what evidence we have, and also cannot speculate on what we may fi nd.” The separate Rathod Mohamedbhai in- vestigation is moving forward, too. “The amended complaint has allegations that nurse Lambros would show videos of himself having sex in the hospital to other nurses,” Rathod says. “He was allegedly a swinger — and he was known to inappropriately sexually harass the student nurses and new nurses at St. Mary’s. There was nowhere else for them to go: If you want to do trauma-level nursing in Grand Junction, you have to go to St. Mary’s. But if you went to St. Mary’s, you had to put up with Lambros’s sexual harass- ment, and we believe St. Mary’s knew he was engaging in inappropriate behavior at work.” Still, there were some things Lambros seemed to want hidden, as indicated by his use of curtains in K.M.’s room. “We’ve talked to nurses who say the cur- tains around the bed should never be drawn, because there’s an inner curtain across the room,” Rathod notes. “And a male nurse would never be left alone with a female pa- tient doing something like a sponge bath or changing a catheter, just like a female nurse would never be alone with a male patient in those intimate kinds of settings. But we know nurse Lambros was alone with female patients and closed the curtains.” The second time Lambros emerged from behind the curtains in K.M.’s room, her hus- band remembers, “he said he was ‘fi nishing up.’ And I thought, ‘Finishing up what?’” More than a year later, he and K.M. still don’t have answers. But everyone’s paying attention to the man behind the curtain. Email the author at michael.roberts@ westword.com. St. Mary’s continued from page 12 Attorney Siddhartha Rathod fi led an amended complaint on January 24. “The cameras give patients who are unconscious the belief that someone is watching them and protecting them.” EVAN SEMÓN Call Elaine Lustig, PhD .......................................................... at 303-369-7770 Needing Your Emotional ....... Animal W/ You? For eligible people who need their emotional support animal to accompany them at/or away from home, I am available to provide the documentation and counseling. CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED www.innerbeatyoga.com TRAIN WITH US