Churchill v. Waters
| Decision Date | 09 December 1992 |
| Docket Number | No. 91-2288,91-2288 |
| Citation | 977 F.2d 1114 |
| Parties | 7 IER Cases 1423 Cheryl R. CHURCHILL and Thomas Koch, M.D., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Cynthia WATERS, Kathleen Davis, Stephen Hopper, and McDonough District Hospital, an Illinois municipal corporation, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
John H. Bisbee (argued), Macomb, Ill., for plaintiffs-appellants.
Donald J. McNeil, Laurie A. Spieler, Larry Manson (argued), Brian J. Fahey, Dorothy J. Voss, Keck, Mahin & Cate, Chicago, Ill., Janet L. Jannusch, Keck, Mahin & Cate, Peoria, Ill., for defendants-appellees.
Before CUDAHY, COFFEY, and MANION, Circuit Judges.
Cheryl R. Churchill appeals the district court's entry of summary judgment against her claim that the defendants fired her because she spoke out on a matter of public concern, namely the reduced quality of nursing care in the hospital's obstetrics department as a result of a recently instituted cross-training program. Because we hold that Churchill's speech is a matter of public concern when viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff Churchill (as we review the entry of summary judgment), we reverse.
McDonough District Hospital in Macomb, Illinois hired Cheryl Churchill as a part-time nurse in the obstetrics department on October 25, 1982. Churchill began working full time on September 16, 1985 and continued on full time status until her discharge on January 27, 1987. Churchill's performance evaluations received every six months during her employment demonstrated steady improvement through the December 1985 evaluation, and at this time the ratings improved to above standard performance or standard in every category. Churchill's June 1986 performance evaluation took a nose dive when Cynthia Waters, Churchill's supervisor, rated her performance as below standard in three of some fifty rating categories. But on the next six month's performance review in December 1986, Churchill once again received ratings of above standard or standard performance in every area.
Churchill's comments about her view of her job in the space provided on the evaluation forms for employee comments reflect her to be a cheerful employee who was enjoying her work through the December 1985 evaluation. Indeed, in the additional evaluator's comments on the December 1985 evaluation, Waters stated that "Cheryl has a very bubbly contagious sense of humor most times." But in spite of rating Churchill's performance as above standard or standard in every category on the December 1986 evaluation, Waters noted that Churchill "exhibits negative behavior towards me and my leadership through her actions and body language...." Waters discharged Churchill less than two months after making these critical comments on an otherwise positive evaluation. Churchill alleges that the breakdown in relations between herself and Waters was the result of Waters' displeasure with her opposition to the hospital's improper implementation of a nurse cross-training program, which Churchill was convinced was detrimental to the welfare of patients in the obstetrical ward, as well as Waters' hostility toward her concerning her association with Dr. Koch, who like Churchill had been subjected to Waters' animosity. In this review of a summary judgment against Churchill, we accept her version of events as true to the extent supported by the record or reasonable inferences therefrom.
In April of 1986 defendant Kathy Davis was hired as the hospital's vice president for nursing. Davis initiated a nurse staffing policy called "cross training," which involved transferring nurses to work in departments other than those in which they were trained and to which they were ordinarily assigned. Churchill objected to the cross-training program not as a matter of policy but on the ground that the cross-training was being implemented improperly, for rather than being assigned to a department for an organized training program on a regular schedule, nurses were assigned to other departments (e.g. nurse from orthopedics transferred to obstetrics) for "cross training" only when their respective departments were over staffed vis-a-vis the nurse-patient ratio in the particular discipline. Churchill felt that this cross-training procedure as implemented created a serious problem, for nurses would be inadequately trained and ill prepared to perform in the areas where they were only sporadically assigned. Furthermore, sending uneducated and untrained nurses into an unfamiliar discipline often distracted the regular nurses from their appointed tasks, thereby interfering with proper patient care and thus endangering patients. Churchill allegedly incurred the wrath of Waters and Davis through her vocal criticism of the type of cross-training program utilized.
Churchill asserts that she inadvertently aroused additional antagonism from the hospital administration through her association with Dr. Thomas Koch, the clinical head of the obstetrics ward, who was likewise outspoken in his opposition to the hospital's implementation of the cross-training program. According to Churchill, Dr. Koch initially incited the hospital administration's animosity in 1982 when he blamed inadequate nurse staffing in the obstetrics department for the birth of a stillborn baby. 1 Prior to the incident of the stillborn baby, Koch had notified Waters that he believed the obstetric ward was understaffed, but it was not until after the near-fatal birth (resulting in brain damage to the infant) that the hospital agreed to provide additional staffing. Dr. Koch's battle with the hospital administration over nurse staffing policy continued through his opposition in 1986 to the cross-training program. By the summer of 1986, Churchill and Koch had become social friends (subsequently married in 1991), and the hospital administration perceived them as professional allies. Churchill's association with Koch allegedly offended the hospital administration, for she was able to provide him with information that he would otherwise not have had concerning the assignment of inexperienced nursing personnel to the staff in the obstetrics area. This in turn supplied him with ammunition for his campaign for improved and acceptable nursing care. By August of 1986, it became apparent that the hospital administrators were keeping files of criticisms rendered by Waters and Davis about Koch.
On August 21, 1986, a "code pink" 2 medical emergency occurred during a cesarean section procedure. When Churchill responded to the code pink, Dr. Koch instructed her to assist him with the emergency C-section. 3 Churchill assisted Dr. Koch until the C-section was completed and the baby was successfully delivered, at which time she excused herself in order that she might check on another patient who was in the early stages of labor. Upon determining that her other patient was not in need of immediate attention, Churchill returned to the delivery room and began documenting in the patient's record the various medical and surgical procedures used during the delivery. Shortly thereafter Waters, who entered the delivery room while Churchill was checking on her other patient, called Churchill from across the room and ordered her to check on her patient. Churchill in responding stated that she had just checked the patient and said: "you don't need to tell me what to do." Churchill thereupon returned to her patient as instructed even though she had not completed her patient record entries. Dr. Koch was furious with Waters for interfering with his operation and attempted to talk with her after completing the surgery, but she refused to discuss the matter with him alone. Waters called Stephen Hopper, the hospital's chief executive officer, and thereafter Waters, Koch and Hopper met to discuss the incident. The following day Hopper and Waters met with Davis and the administrative head of obstetrics to discuss Dr. Koch's complaints 4 and to decide how to deal with Churchill's response to Waters in the delivery room during the code pink procedure. They decided to issue Churchill a "written warning" 5 for insubordination because of her comment "[y]ou don't have to tell me how to do my job."
The relationship between Churchill and Waters apparently continued to deteriorate throughout the fall of 1986, as Churchill's December 1986 evaluation included critical comments for the first time. In the evaluation Waters commented that Churchill's attitude toward her "promotes an unpleasant atmosphere and hinders constructive communication and cooperation." At the time of Churchill's discharge, the hospital administration decided to regard Waters' critical comments as a second "written warning."
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