A jury on Thursday awarded $27.5 million to a former St. Mary Medical Center Long Beach chief nursing officer, finding hospital executives and parent company Dignity Health unlawfully retaliated against her and failed to accommodate her disability in violation of California law.
Nancy Valla, now 61, was hired in 2018. Her duties included overseeing patient safety at the hospital and she alleged in her Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that she was forced out of her role after raising serious concerns about patient care and safety.
“This verdict sends a powerful message: retaliation and indifference to mental health in healthcare settings can’t be tolerated,” Valla’s attorney, David M. deRubertis, said after the verdict. “Nurses who speak up for patient safety should be valued and appreciated.”
The trouble began after a tragic 2019 incident in which a homeless woman jumped to her death from the hospital’s parking structure, deRubertis explained during opening statements, a tragedy Valla later learned had happened before at the same location. Upon advocating for stronger safety measures in response, including a physical barrier, she was met with unusually strong resistance from her superiors, trial testimony showed.
But in their court papers denying any wrongdoing on the part of St. Mary’s, defense attorneys stated that despite not having witnessed the suicide first-hand and having gotten to the scene long after law enforcement, Valla still contended she was deeply impacted by the trauma of seeing the victim’s covered body near the parking structure.
Valla was still employed when she filed suit in August 2020 and had not quit or resigned, the defense attorneys further stated in their pleadings.
“Put simply, she (Valla) has suffered no adverse employment action for any reason at any time,” according to the hospital lawyers’ court papers.
Trial testimony further showed that Valla reported multiple other patient safety issues, including anesthesia machines and defibrillators still being used that were past the manufacturer’s stated end of life. Valla learned that a tube in one anesthesia machine that was past its end of life burst during a pre-use check, but the hospital still had other similar machines being used, testimony showed.
Valla alleged that the hospital refused to prioritize immediate replacement of lifesaving equipment over budget concerns and deRubertis contended that hospital leadership, including CEO Carolyn Caldwell, retaliated against Valla for raising her concerns and suspected her of filing an anonymous regulatory complaint.
Valla went on medical leave to seek treatment for what was later diagnosed as a disabling mental health condition in May 2019. Instead of providing a reasonable accommodation of a protected leave of absence, the hospital replaced her while on leave, with internal hospital communications used as evidence at trial showing her superiors had plans to embellish the justification for her removal and block her reinstatement, testimony showed.