Nosal-Tabor v. Sharp Chula Vista Med. Ctr. – Aug. 2015 (Summary)

WRONGFUL TERMINATION AND WORKPLACE RETALIATION

Nosal-Tabor v. Sharp Chula Vista Med. Ctr., No. D065843 (Cal. Ct. App. Aug. 3, 2015)

A California court of appeals overturned a trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a defendant medical center and ruled that a jury could find in favor of the plaintiff nurse for wrongful termination and workplace retaliation.

The Nursing Practice Act allows nurses to perform certain functions that would otherwise be considered the illegal practice of medicine when those functions are performed according to a hospital’s “standardized procedures.” The medical center implemented nurse-led cardiac stress tests, which the nurse refused to perform, complaining that such stress tests were the practice of medicine because the hospital had not adopted standardized procedures.

The nurse filed a lawsuit for wrongful termination and workplace retaliation. The medical center filed a motion for summary judgment, which the trial court granted, finding that the nurse did not present credible evidence that the standardized procedures in place when she was terminated were insufficient. The appeals court overturned the ruling of the trial court, finding that deficiencies in the medical center’s documents could support a jury finding in favor of the nurse.