Image Credit: Tennova Healthcare – Clarksville / Facebook
The Tennessee Conservative [By Rebecca Scott] –
Tennova Healthcare in Clarksville is in hot water over the alleged termination of an ER nurse over her charting practice of stating the lack of care for patients in the ER and their resulting deaths.
Caitlin Wyatt worked as a registered ER nurse from 2021 to September of 2023. Her lawsuit against Clarksville Health System, which is in a partnership with, and doing business as, Tennova Healthcare, claims that unsanitary conditions and lack of staffing were present in the hospital during her years working there.
Wyatt refused to omit details from patient charts that painted the ER in a less than positive light. Shortly after, Wyatt was terminated from her position.
Wyatt is seeking compensation for damages, lost pay, and attorney fees.
She states that her termination is in violation of the Tennessee Public Protection Act (TPPA) and the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act.
The TPPA, in partial summary, says that a terminated employee filing a lawsuit “must prove that they (1) were an employee; (2) refused to participate in or to remain silent about illegal activities; (3) were terminated by their employer; and (4) had an exclusive causal relationship between the plaintiff’s refusal to participate in or remain silent about illegal activities and their termination.”
Wyatt believes all these bases are covered in her case as the hospital conditions, staffing shortages and pay cuts, and her refusal to omit details in patient charts of lack of care which led to death, allegedly led to her termination.
Two specific cases brought up in the suit included a man who died of cardiac arrest while in the waiting room, and a woman who died of sepsis due to lack of appropriate treatment.
Wyatt claims that, when she included the insights on the hospital’s condition in the patient records, she was told by a supervisor that those details should be removed from the charts because it “gives a lawyer a case on a silver platter.”
When Wyatt refused to eliminate details from the charts regarding the woman who died of sepsis, she alleges that she was unlawfully terminated from her position one month later.
Tennova has not commented on the pending litigation.
Rebecca Scott is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Rebecca at Rebecca@tennesseeconservativenews.com
One Response
Need LOTS more like her.