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Whistleblower: Court Throws Out Verdict For CRNA.
Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession
The whistleblower law in Texas does protect a non-employee independent contractor whose business relationship is disrupted in retaliation for a good-faith report of misconduct by a healthcare professional. However, the CRNA in this case did not report the obstetrician in good faith. The CRNA had no objective factual basis to report that the obstetrician did not obtain informed consent for the patient’s cesarean.
SUPREME COURT OF TEXAS April 28, 2017The Supreme Court of Texas has thrown out a ruling of the Court of Appeals of Texas we reported in August 2015, along with a $822,480.00 verdict in favor of a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) from a hospital. The CRNA’s relationship with the hospital was terminated after she reported alleged misconduct by an obstetrician who practiced at the hospital. See
Whistleblower: Verdict For CRNA. Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession (23)8 Aug. ‘15 p. 5.The obstetrician wanted and the CRNA did not want the patient to have a cesarean. The obstetrician spoke privately with the patient and then went ahead. The obstetrician admitted later he was very brusque with the patient when he asked her point-blank if she wanted a dead baby. However, the CRNA was not present for the meeting and had no factual basis to tell the hospital’s ethics committee that the obstetrician did not have the patient’s informed consent. Her report was not in good faith.
El Paso v. Murphy, __ S.W. 3d __, 2017 WL 1534054 (Tex., April 28, 2017).More references from nursinglaw.com
http://www.nursinglaw.com/whistleblower-nurse-discharge.htm
http://www.nursinglaw.com/whistleblower.htm
http://www.nursinglaw.com/whistleblower-collective-bargaining.htm
http://www.nursinglaw.com/whistleblower-nurse.htm