Robinson v. St. John Med. Ctr., Inc. — Apr. 2016 (Summary)

EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION

Robinson v. St. John Med. Ctr., Inc.
No. 15-5039 (10th Cir. Apr. 13, 2016)

The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed summary judgment in favor of a medical center on claims of racial discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful termination made by a formerly employed nurse case manager.

The nurse case manager had been terminated for acting outside the scope of her position.  Specifically, after becoming concerned that a patient suffering from sickle cell anemia was not having her pain treated adequately, the nurse case manager proceeded to take several actions regarding the patient’s treatment without first obtaining physician approval, including:  (1) questioning the resident physicians regarding why the patient was not receiving antibiotics, why the patient was not on an IV pain pump, and why a hematologist had not been consulted; (2) contacting a sickle cell treatment facility in another state and obtaining information about a physician at that facility, for the purpose of arranging a consult for the patient; (3) consulting with a local infectious disease specialist regarding whether the patient should be on IV antibiotics; (4) asking the patient whether she was willing to have a pain pump; and (5) trying to obtain a hematologist for the patient and asking a social worker to determine whether transportation to another city (where the hematologist was located) could be arranged.  The actions of the case manager resulted in the patient refusing to take her medication and questioning why she was not receiving IV medication.  Further, several physicians and one nurse ultimately complained about the nurse case manager’s conduct, stating that it undermined the role of the physicians involved in the patient’s care and drove a wedge between the patient and the medical center.  The nurse was terminated.  She filed suit, alleging race discrimination, retaliation for race discrimination, and violation of public policy.

The lower court granted summary judgment to the medical center because the nurse failed to show a genuine issue of material fact as to whether her employer’s proffered reasons for terminating her employment were pretext for discrimination or retaliation.  The Court of Appeals agreed and stated that what the nurse offered as evidence of pretext was insufficiently supported by fact.  The court also reasoned that the offered evidence did not show weakness, implausibilities, inconsistencies, incoherencies, or contradictions in the medical center’s proffered legitimate reasons for her termination.