Lawsuit: Health care workers fired after reporting deaths
Posted on Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Two suits have been filed by former health care workers at a Fayetteville long-term care hospital claiming that they were fired for reporting to state and local authorities what they believed were suspicious deaths in April.
The suits have been filed against Regency Hospital of Northwest Arkansas.
Chief Clinical Officer Mary Williams said Monday that she had no comment about the suits because the company had not been served.
Fayetteville Police Det. David Williams said Monday that the police department originally received a complaint about a homicide at the nursing home and, shortly after that time, began investigating two deaths.
Records of the patients have been sent to the Arkansas State Crime Lab in Little Rock, and Williams said he is awaiting a crime lab review of the medical charts before taking further action.
The suits were filed Friday in Washington County Circuit Court.
One of the suits has been filed by Fayetteville attorney Ken Hixson on behalf of client Marjorie Hamilton, a registered nurse.
The suit seeks unspecified compensatory damages for emotional distress, humiliation and past and future mental anguish. It also claims Hamilton’s character has been defamed via dissemination of “ false and malicious statements” about her nursing ability and character. She is also suing for breach of employment and bonus contracts, and is asking for unspecified punitive damages.
The other suit has been filed by Fayetteville attorney W. H. Taylor on behalf of Reina L. Rodriguez, who worked as a certified nurse assistant at the hospital.
Rodriguez’s suit asks for $ 200, 000 in compensatory damages for emotional distress, humiliation, past and future mental anguish, and seeks punitive damages of $ 1 million.
It also asks for $ 50, 000 for a false light invasion of privacy, as the company has provided information to the Arkansas Department of Work Force Services that she engaged in disruptive behavior at the workplace. Rodriguez is also suing to recover for breach of her employment contract.
Both women claim they were fired in retaliation for going to local and state authorities about the two suspicious deaths.
Hamilton alleges in her suit that she reported for work during the first week of April and found out a patient (identified in Rodriguez’s suit as Patricia Cobb ) had died earlier that day and another nurse was responsible.
On or about April 26, Hamilton spoke with the director of nursing, Mary Holtzen, and told her that the death should be reported to the Arkansas State Nursing Board, the suit alleges.
Holtzen did not affirm whether she would report the death or not, according to the suit, and Hamilton said that it was her duty to report the death under the Arkansas Nurse Practices Act and that, if the defendant would not report it, she would.
On May 3, the director of nursing called Hamilton at her Fort Smith home and told her that her shift was canceled, and that she needed to come to Fayetteville on May 4 for a meeting.
She was fired at that meeting, accused of excessive absences, failing to properly document a file and offending a co-worker’s religion, the suit alleges.
Between the death of the patient and her firing, Hamilton learned of another death believed to be suspicious at the facility involving the same nurse as the first death, the suit alleges, adding that this also had not been reported to the board of nursing.
After her firing, Hamilton contacted the state board of nursing and reported the suspicious nature of the deaths. She was told to contact local police or sheriff’s officers and report the deaths, the suit claims, which she did.
She applied for unemployment with the Arkansas Department of Work Force Services and, on June 20, according to the suit, and the agency issued its findings, which stated that there was “ not a preponderance of evidence presented by the employer ” that Hamilton’s performance or attendance “ was an intentional violation” of the employer’s policies.
The findings stated that her discharge “ was more likely than not prompted by the claimant’s report to the nursing board and local authorities, ” the suit claims.
Rodriguez’s suit claims that Hamilton had disclosed to police that Rodriguez was a witness who should be interviewed.
Williams interviewed her and she disclosed that the nurse suspected in Cobb’s death had asked her for help in getting Cobb up to eat on the day of her death. Rodriguez stated to the police that she had warned the nurse against moving the patient because her blood pressure was dangerously low, but that the nurse insisted, according to Rodriguez’s suit.
Upon moving Cobb, her tracheotomy tube dislodged and fell onto the floor. The other nurse refused to allow Rodriguez to replace the tube and told her to go look for a respiratory therapist, the suit alleges. Cobb was unable to breathe, went into cardiac arrest and died. No attempt at cardiopulmonary respiration was made by the nurse, the suit claims.
Rodriguez was also familiar with the death of J. C. Conley and disclosed what she knew to police. She indicated her suspicion that his death could be attributed to the nurse in connection with Cobb’s case simultaneously giving him beta blockers and morphine sulphate, which could have driven his blood pressure to a dangerously high level, her suit alleges.
The police spoke to Washington County Coroner Roger Morris about the matter and he determined that the issues raised by Rodriguez should be investigated more thoroughly, according to the suit.
He subpoenaed medical records relating to the deaths of Cobb and Conley.
After disclosing information to police, Rodriguez claims in the suit, she was intimidated by company officials into silence in an effort to stop wrongful death disclosure to the public because of medical malpractice liability.
On June 9, she was told that she was going to be suspended indefinitely, and that the allegations would be investigated.
During the unemployment hearing for Hamilton, Williams disclosed during a telephone conference, that Rodriguez was his lead witness in his investigation. Within two hours of this conference, supervisory personnel called her to a meeting and fired her, the suit alleges.
Rodriguez applied for unemployment with the Arkansas Department of Work Force Services and on Sept. 1, the agency issued its findings of fact that included “ no credible information ” was provided to support the allegation that she was discharged for disruptive behavior at the workplace, and that she was discharged for a reason other than misconduct in connection with the work.
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