A former employee who almost froze to death in January in the parking lot of an Akron, Ohio, hospital  has filed a lawsuit against Summa Health System, the hospital and a private security firm hired by the hospital, according to an article on the Akron Beacon Journal website.

A respiratory therapist at Summa Rehab Hospital became ill during her shift on Jan. 25. She left the building at about 8:30 p.m. to drive home, but passed out and was found lying on the ground at about 3 a.m.

She and her husband are charging negligence and claim the hospital was negligent for not having security cameras in the area of the parking lot where she passed out and that a security guard who promised to help her did not.

The lawsuit says the woman suffered "severe hypothermia, frostbite, severe left ventricular dysfunction and great bodily harm."

Healthcare facility parking garages often go unstaffed and cameras are unmonitored, according to an article on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel website.

To gauge the safety of Milwaukee area hospital parking garages, the Journal Sentinel hired a security expert to examine eight structures. His spot check found basic safety and security shortcomings in all of them, the article said.

Read the full Beacon Journal article