Patients, workers sue Northwell over secret bathroom cameras at Manhasset sleep disorder clinic
Workers and patients who believe they were illegally recorded in the bathrooms of Northwell Health’s Manhasset sleep disorder clinic filed for class-action status in lawsuits against the facility, arguing administrators were negligent for failing to stop the technician who allegedly filmed them.
A suit was also filed against STARS physical rehabilitation center, also run by Northwell, located in the same Community Drive building as the sleep center, where the technician was also believed to have bugged bathrooms with hidden video cameras.
The former clinic employee, Sanjai Syamaprasad, 48, of Brooklyn, is facing criminal charges in connection with the alleged acts. He pleaded not guilty in April to five counts of unlawful surveillance in Nassau County Court and two counts of tampering with evidence in connection to the destruction of flash drives and cameras.
Nassau County prosecutors charge that he attached fake smoke detectors with hidden cameras secreted inside them to the bathroom walls of the sleep suites in the facility between July 2023 and April 2024 and recorded patients and workers.
The clinic, which has nine patient rooms with en suite bathrooms, treats adults and children for a variety of sleep disorders. As part of their treatment, they’re aware that they must be recorded while they sleep, but they are informed of the areas that are under observations from signs on the walls, according to Joel Rubenstein, the lawyer for the workers and patients.
Former Northwell sleep technician Brenda Pellettieri, who was also a patient in the rehab facility for a shoulder ailment, joined the litigation, she said, because she wants Northwell to be held accountable for the alleged privacy breach.
"Hospitals are a place of trust," she said. "I think that someone needs to take accountability for that, and there has to be some kind of strong protections put in place of something like this."
Pellettieri said the technician would always arrive hours early to his shift and carry a large bag, then leave before his supervisors arrived in the morning.
"There's no doubt in my mind that I was in those videos, because I worked with him overnight," she said during a recent phone interview with Newsday.
Rubenstein provided Newsday with form letters from Northwell sent to patients and workers informing them of the allegations and the possibility that the suspect had operated longer than originally thought.
"The DA’s office determined that the former employee initially purchased the recording device that he eventually used in the Center on Aug. 2, 2022," the letter said. "We do not know when and how frequently the former employee used the recording device after that date."
Northwell would not say how many letters have been sent.
But Rubenstein said Northwell sent out 13,000 letters.
Another clinician saw Syamaprasad watching a man on the toilet in one of the patient rooms on April 24, 2023, and reported him immediately to her supervisors, according to a criminal complaint. He was not arrested until just before 10 p.m. the next night and by then, according to prosecutors, he had ditched some of his recording equipment in a dumpster near his house and destroyed a memory stick holding some of the evidence.
His lawyer, Julie Rendelman, did not respond to a phone call and email seeking comment.
Syamaprasad lost his state license as a polysomnographic technologist on May 6.
"Licensee did not contest allegations of unlawfully placing and using a video surveillance device in a restroom, at licensee's place of employment, without a person's knowledge or consent," according to the state licensing website.
Northwell said that they had promptly told authorities and suspended him.
"We were deeply disturbed when we first learned information regarding the conduct of the former employee, who has not worked for us for over one year," spokesman Joseph Kemp said in an email. "We immediately revoked that individual’s access to our premises, reported him to the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, and have fully cooperated with the DA’s Office in their investigation and prosecution of him."
Syamaprasad's criminal case was up for a conference Thursday in Nassau County Court.
"This case highlights a shocking and invasive breach of trust," Rubenstein said. "Patients should never have to worry about their privacy being compromised while seeking medical care."
Workers and patients who believe they were illegally recorded in the bathrooms of Northwell Health’s Manhasset sleep disorder clinic filed for class-action status in lawsuits against the facility, arguing administrators were negligent for failing to stop the technician who allegedly filmed them.
A suit was also filed against STARS physical rehabilitation center, also run by Northwell, located in the same Community Drive building as the sleep center, where the technician was also believed to have bugged bathrooms with hidden video cameras.
The former clinic employee, Sanjai Syamaprasad, 48, of Brooklyn, is facing criminal charges in connection with the alleged acts. He pleaded not guilty in April to five counts of unlawful surveillance in Nassau County Court and two counts of tampering with evidence in connection to the destruction of flash drives and cameras.
Nassau County prosecutors charge that he attached fake smoke detectors with hidden cameras secreted inside them to the bathroom walls of the sleep suites in the facility between July 2023 and April 2024 and recorded patients and workers.
The clinic, which has nine patient rooms with en suite bathrooms, treats adults and children for a variety of sleep disorders. As part of their treatment, they’re aware that they must be recorded while they sleep, but they are informed of the areas that are under observations from signs on the walls, according to Joel Rubenstein, the lawyer for the workers and patients.
Former Northwell sleep technician Brenda Pellettieri, who was also a patient in the rehab facility for a shoulder ailment, joined the litigation, she said, because she wants Northwell to be held accountable for the alleged privacy breach.
"Hospitals are a place of trust," she said. "I think that someone needs to take accountability for that, and there has to be some kind of strong protections put in place of something like this."
Pellettieri said the technician would always arrive hours early to his shift and carry a large bag, then leave before his supervisors arrived in the morning.
"There's no doubt in my mind that I was in those videos, because I worked with him overnight," she said during a recent phone interview with Newsday.
Rubenstein provided Newsday with form letters from Northwell sent to patients and workers informing them of the allegations and the possibility that the suspect had operated longer than originally thought.
"The DA’s office determined that the former employee initially purchased the recording device that he eventually used in the Center on Aug. 2, 2022," the letter said. "We do not know when and how frequently the former employee used the recording device after that date."
Northwell would not say how many letters have been sent.
But Rubenstein said Northwell sent out 13,000 letters.
Another clinician saw Syamaprasad watching a man on the toilet in one of the patient rooms on April 24, 2023, and reported him immediately to her supervisors, according to a criminal complaint. He was not arrested until just before 10 p.m. the next night and by then, according to prosecutors, he had ditched some of his recording equipment in a dumpster near his house and destroyed a memory stick holding some of the evidence.
His lawyer, Julie Rendelman, did not respond to a phone call and email seeking comment.
Syamaprasad lost his state license as a polysomnographic technologist on May 6.
"Licensee did not contest allegations of unlawfully placing and using a video surveillance device in a restroom, at licensee's place of employment, without a person's knowledge or consent," according to the state licensing website.
Northwell said that they had promptly told authorities and suspended him.
"We were deeply disturbed when we first learned information regarding the conduct of the former employee, who has not worked for us for over one year," spokesman Joseph Kemp said in an email. "We immediately revoked that individual’s access to our premises, reported him to the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, and have fully cooperated with the DA’s Office in their investigation and prosecution of him."
Syamaprasad's criminal case was up for a conference Thursday in Nassau County Court.
"This case highlights a shocking and invasive breach of trust," Rubenstein said. "Patients should never have to worry about their privacy being compromised while seeking medical care."
