Landrum v. Delta Reg’l Med. Ctr. – March 2015 (Summary)

AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT

Landrum v. Delta Reg’l Med. Ctr., Civil Action No. 4:13-cv-180-JMV (N.D. Miss. Mar. 6, 2015)

The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi granted summary judgment in favor of a medical center, dismissing a former employee’s allegations that the medical center retaliated against him, in violation of the ADA, for complaining about the treatment of mentally disabled patients. In his lawsuit, the employee claimed that he had reported concerns that mentally ill patients were being inadequately supervised and requested a reasonable accommodation to provide a safe environment for them. He further alleged that he was terminated as a result, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). The medical center sought summary judgment, arguing that the ADA does not protect employees from retaliation when they raise concerns about the treatment of non-employees. In the end, the court held that the issue is whether the employee engaged in activity protected under the ADA and, therefore, was protected under the Act. In this case, the issue was whether the employee was protected under the ADA for complaining to a hospital that its supervision/treatment of mentally ill patients should be different that that dictated by the hospital’s current protocols. Quoting the United States Court of Appeal’s decision in Frielich v. Upper Chesapeake Health Inc., the court noted that “[e]very disagreement over the adequacy of hospital expenditures or the provision of patient care is not an ADA issue. If it were, courts would be drawn into medical resource disputes quite beyond their expertise and hospital personnel would be diverted by litigation from their primary task of providing medical attention to those in their charge.” Finally, the court concluded: “this court does not overlook the importance of maintaining adequate levels of patient care, but it is not the role of a federal court under the ADA to umpire disagreements between a hospital and staff over what constitutes the most appropriate manner of patient care.”