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The largest hospital firm in the country faces a lawsuit from healthcare workers who say they weren’t adequately protected during the coronavirus outbreak.
The lawsuit was filed by healthcare workers, family members, and the Service Employees International Union for United Healthcare Workers West. These plaintiffs say that they and other employees were injured as a result of lax coronavirus measures by HCA Healthcare – the largest healthcare chain in the nation.
According to the plaintiffs, HCA Healthcare’s Riverside Community Hospital in Southern California has failed to protect healthcare workers from coronavirus infection and related injuries.
“In short, Defendants HCA and RCH fell far short of the CDC recommendations,” the healthcare workers’ lawsuit argues. “Defendants denied PPE to certain employees—namely EVS workers, one of whom was denied an N95 mask after being ordered to clean the room of a patient suffering from COVID-19.”
One of the plaintiffs, Vanessa Campos Villalobos, says her mother was working as a part time lab assistant and phlebotomist when COVID-19 first hit the Riverside County area. Allegedly, Villalobos’ mother Sally Lara was unknowingly exposed to the virus during this time and later tested positive. After suffering “severe” symptoms, Lara was reportedly placed on a ventilator for two weeks before she died in the hospital on June 8.
Another plaintiff, Vanessa Mondragon, says that she was exposed to COVID-19 while working at Riverside Community Hospital as a lab assistant and phlebotomist. She allegedly tested positive for COVID-19 in early July after she was unknowingly exposed to the virus. As of August 10, Mondragon and her boyfriend are still sick, the lawsuit contends.
Other plaintiffs tell a similar tale – that they were unknowingly exposed to COVID-19 in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak and have had to suffer the consequences. Service Employees International Union argues that numerous other healthcare workers represented by the union have had similar experiences.
According to the healthcare workers, HCA Healthcare and Riverside Community Hospital failed to warn them about the risk of infection in the early days of the pandemic. Even after the risks were well known, the hospital allegedly failed to provide sufficient protections for their employees.
The healthcare workers note that COVID-19 cases have highlighted a prominent racial disparity in American healthcare as the virus disproportionally affects people of color. In California, 58.7% of COVID-19 cases and 46.9% of COVID-19 deaths affect Latinx people, despite this demographic making up only 38.9% of the state’s population.
The lawsuit argues that this racial disparity is at its worse in the healthcare field. While healthcare workers are three times more likely to receive a positive COVID-19 test, healthcare workers of color are allegedly five times more likely to receive a positive COVID-19 test when compared to the general public.
Riverside Community Hospital has denied any allegations of wrongdoing and says that they have worked hard to protect their healthcare workers and patients amidst the coronavirus outbreak.
“No one takes the health and safety of our workers more seriously than we do, and, since day one, our top priority has been to protect them — to keep them safe and keep them employed — so they can best care for our patients,” Riverside Community Hospital chief nursing officer Annette Greenwood said in a statement.
“Our safety efforts have included testing of colleagues, universal masking and other safeguards, in line with guidance from Amy Goldstein / the CDC.”
Despite HCA’s assurances that they have put “extensive work, planning, and training” into delivering high quality care during the coronavirus outbreak, the healthcare workers and union disagree.
Union president Dave Regan says that HCA has been “particularly lax, and particularly sloppy and irresponsible” during the pandemic.
“There are millions of health care workers out there who are risking their lives, who understand that this is part of what they signed up for and they’re willing to do it, but they deserve their employers to be as accountable to them as they are to their patients and the facilities they work for,” Regan told CNBC.
The union and healthcare workers affected by the issue seek damages, restitution, as well as court intervention requiring HCA to protect their employees from further “undue and unnecessary” exposure to COVID-19.
Do you know healthcare workers who have been working during the coronavirus outbreak? Are you one of these essential workers? Share your story in the comment section below.
The healthcare workers union and plaintiffs are represented by Bruce A. Harland and William T. Hanley of Weinberg Roger & Rosenfeld.
The Healthcare Workers Coronavirus Outbreak Lawsuit is Service Employees International Union – United Healthcare Workers West, et al. v. HCA Healthcare, et al., Case No. unknown, in the Superior Court of the State of California in and for Riverside County.
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2 thoughts onHealthcare Workers Say Largest Hospital Firm Failed Them During Coronavirus Outbreak
I have been in the healthcare field for over 20 years off and on. I was an essential worker until my employer sent me to a facility that refused us the proper ppe. So after notifying my employer of the conditions I didn’t report to my assignment the next day I was terminated for no call no show. Which made me unqualified for unemployment (still fighting for that). I haven’t worked since June I’m getting ready to loose my apartment because of not having to proper equipment for me to safely do my job.
I have been in healthcare for 27 years. I take xrays. At our company, we still have no lysol to sanitize. We are very limited on cleaning supplies. Things are not clean. We have only been able to have 1- N95 mask every 2 weeks. Other businesses are getting cleaning supplies and this has been going on for over 6 months in the US and we in healthcare still don’t have supplies. We are now only wearing surgical masks. Even those swabbing Covid patients. We have been holding monthly meetings and 1 or 2 people wear masks. We are all in a small room sitting next to each other. No spacing. Its crazy.