A certified nursing assistant has sued her former employer, saying she was wrongly fired for disputing a director of nursing’s orders not to help a resident call 911.
The lawsuit alleges that supervisors at Oakwood Specialty Care in Albia, IA, failed to care for a resident’s wellbeing after a fall and denied his rights to participate in his care and contact anyone he wished.
Kandus Jellison, who was a CNA at Oakwood when the disputed incident occurred on June 22, 2022, claims she was caught between supervisor’s orders and protecting a resident’s rights.
The resident fell from his wheelchair and requested help from Oakwood’s staff, according to an article on the lawsuit in the Iowa Capital Dispatch. He said he was in a great deal of pain, suspected broken bones and asked to go to a hospital.
Oakwood DON Olivia Oshel allegedly stopped staff from calling 911, wanting initial assessment and treatment to be handled at Oakwood. Administrator Nicole Behrens allegedly agreed that a mobile X-ray should be performed before an ambulance was called.
The suit claims that Jellison then informed the resident that he could call 911 and request an ambulance if he wished, and he did so. Jellison claims Oshel then told her to leave the building, and she was later informed she had been fired for contradicting a supervisor.
Residents’ rights vs. policy
The suit raises questions about how a nursing home employee should act when a building leader’s instructions contradict a resident’s rights.
Jellison reported the incident to the Iowa Department of Inspections, which later cited Oakwood for lack of nursing supervision. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services also fined the facility more than $95,000.
However, Jellison lost a contested unemployment benefits decision when a judge ruled that she contradicted facility managers when it came to a medical decision. Jellison told the Iowa Capital Dispatch that she only informed the resident of his rights and told him how to get an ambulance using a cell phone in his room.
“It’s not like I gave him a phone, or that I dialed 911 for him,” she said. “He did it himself.”
The Iowa Administrative Code outlines the rights of residents in nursing homes — including the right to timely care after an accident, the right to participate in planning their own care, and the right to communicate with anyone of their choosing.
The lawsuit claims these rights were violated during the 2022 incident and that Jellison was only trying to inform the resident of those rights.
Jellison’s suit seeks damages from Care Initiatives, a nursing home chain that owns 43 facilities in Iowa, including Oakwood. Oshel and Behrens are co-defendants.
Jessica McDyer, vice president of skilled nursing operations at Care Initiatives, responded to the suit in a statement to McKnight’s Long-Term Care News.
“We take these matters very seriously and are in the process of reviewing the allegations contained in this newly filed lawsuit,” McDyer said. “While we are not able to comment further on this pending legal matter, we remain committed to holding our communities to the highest standards of care and safety.”
