California Nurse Sues Hospital Over Firing, Whistleblower Suit

A woman who worked at Rideout Memorial Hospital in California has now sued that hospital after she was fired from her position. According to her account, she suffered from battery, and she was also terminated on wrongful grounds. She claims that it was all in retaliation to a whistleblower lawsuit that she started.

It all began when the nurse contacted the government about under-staffing in the hospital. This was allegedly happening in telemetry units, where the woman worked. She said that the hospital never approved any more than the bare minimum for staffing, and that this went against state laws and made for an unsafe environment.

After she filed this report, the government did send in investigators. They looked into the situation and then gave her a report about their findings. Apparently, these findings went along with what she had claimed. Other nurses had been too nervous to speak up, only admitting in interviews that the way the law was viewed by the state and the way it was viewed by the hospital was not the same.

When she got the report, the woman was talking to one of her fellow nurses, showing her the results. She then claims that her boss came up quietly behind her, forcefully jumped in the middle, grabbed her arm — leaving a bruise — and then tore the papers out of her hand. After the incident, the nurse was fired.

Employees do have a right to move forward and begin reporting wrongdoing in the workplace if they feel that the laws are being broken. Employers cannot infringe on these rights, either in a physical manner or through job termination.

Source: Appeal-Democrat, “Whistle-blowing nurse sues Rideout” Harold Kruger, May. 22, 2014