Ex-nurse sues, safety complaints lead to firing, she says

Nurses General Nursing

Published

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/07/17/BA77576.DTL

Ex-nurse sues Tenet Healthcare over firing

Safety complaints led to layoff, she says

Charlie Goodyear, Chronicle Staff Writer

Thursday, July 17, 2003

©2003 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/07/17/BA77576.DTL

A former nurse at Doctors Medical Center in San Pablo is suing Tenet Healthcare, claiming she was fired last year after complaining about doctors eating pizza during surgery.

Marilyn Coleman said she had been terminated in July 2002 after just three months on the job. She is seeking at least $25,000 in monetary damages.

According to the lawsuit filed last week in Contra Costa Superior Court, Coleman was retaliated against for other complaints about patient care and safety at the hospital, including the claim that doctors were not properly disposing of dirty needles and nurses were improperly dispensing drugs to patients in nonemergency cases.

The lawsuit comes as Tenet, the nation's second-largest for-profit hospital company, is facing a federal probe over its Medicare billing practices. Aside from San Pablo, Tenet also owns hospitals in Pinole and San Ramon.

Doctors Medical Center has also been embroiled in a bitter nurses' strike for more than six months.

A hospital spokesman said attorneys for the defense had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment on any matters pending in litigation.

The hospital hired Coleman to work as an operating room manager. At the time, the hospital's CEO, Dr. Gary Sloan, wrote her a note saying she was "clearly a star" and would be a significant contribution to the medical staff.

E-mail Charlie Goodyear at [email protected].

©2003 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback

VickyRN, MSN, DNP, RN

49 Articles; 5,349 Posts

Specializes in Gerontological, cardiac, med-surg, peds.
claiming she was fired last year after complaining about doctors eating pizza during surgery.

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

mattsmom81

4,516 Posts

Thanks for posting about this nurse!!:)

Good grief, I hope she wins big. Good to see some atorneys will go up against the 'deep pocket' healthcare giants. What she's endured is just another example of the cohort and mob bullying that goes on in institutions today. :(

We are made responsible for safe patient care by virtue of our licenses and the law, and when we speak up this can be the result

I will follow this and hope to see her get some satisfaction. I hope to see more nurses file lawsuits like this in the future...for this type of thing and also for hostile work environments (which are so prevalent today)

Things won't get better until we challenge corporate healthcare and use federal laws to fight them, IMO.

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