Herbert J. Thomas Mem'l Hosp. Ass'n v. Nutter

• Decision Date: 17 November 2016
• Docket Number: No. 15-0695,15-0695
• Citation: 795 S.E.2d 530
• Court: West Virginia Supreme Court
• Parties: Herbert J. Thomas Memorial Hospital Association, Defendant Below, Petitioner v. Susan Nutter, Plaintiff Below, Respondent

795 S.E.2d 530

Herbert J. Thomas Memorial Hospital Association, Defendant Below, Petitioner

v.Susan Nutter, Plaintiff Below, Respondent

No. 15-0695

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

Submitted: September 14, 2016

Filed: November 17, 2016

Bryan R. Cokeley, Esq., Katherine M. Mullins, Esq., Steptoe & Johnson PLLC, Charleston, West Virginia, Counsel for the Petitioner.

Kelly Elswick-Hall, Esq., Marvin W. Masters, Esq., The Masters Law Firm LC, Charleston, West Virginia, Counsel for the Respondent.

Chief Justice Ketchum :

In this appeal from the Circuit Court of Kanawha County, we are asked to examine a jury's verdict that found a hospital wrongfully discharged a nurse in a manner designed to undermine public policy. As a result of that wrongful discharge finding, the jury also concluded that the hospital had intentionally inflicted emotional distress on the nurse and had defamed her. Finally, the jury found that the hospital failed to pay the nurse her full wages. The hospital contends on appeal that there is insufficient evidence to support the verdict.

After reviewing the eight-day trial transcript, we reverse the $1,004,900 jury verdict against the hospital. We find no evidence to support the jury's conclusion that the hospital wrongfully discharged the nurse in order to jeopardize or undermine a specific public policy. We also find insufficient evidence to say the discharge was intended to inflict emotional distress upon the nurse. Further, we find that the nurse's claim for defamation was barred by a one-year statute of limitation. As set forth below, we hold that the circuit court should have granted judgment as a matter of law to the hospital on these three allegations.

As for the final issue, whether the nurse is due unpaid wages from the hospital, we find that the circuit court's conduct and rulings during the trial (including the way it asked over 300 questions of the witnesses) undermined the reliability of the jury's verdict. We therefore reverse the jury's verdict on unpaid wages and remand the case for a new trial on that single issue.

I.FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Plaintiff Susan Nutter is a registered nurse. In August 2008, she was hired by the defendant hospital, Herbert J. Thomas Memorial Hospital Association ("Thomas Memorial"). This case arises from the plaintiff's firing in November 2009.

The plaintiff was hired to work as a "charge nurse" in the geriatric psychiatric unit, also called the "Med-Psych Unit." A charge nurse is paid a "charge nurse differential," a premium in addition to the base salary for a registered nurse. The Med-Psych Unit serves elderly patients who have medical issues too serious for a nursing home and psychiatric issues too serious for the general population of the hospital. The unit is a locked area with capacity for up to ten patients in five rooms. Typically, the unit is staffed during the day with one registered nurse, one licensed practical nurse, and a mental health technician. Social workers and therapists rotate through as they provide services.

In February 2009, Thomas Memorial placed the plaintiff on an improvement plan, due to her being "unable to complete tasks in a timely manner; orders not signed off timely; nursing documentation incomplete; [and] lack of daily progress notes." The plaintiff's nurse manager wrote that the plaintiff needed to improve her completion of written "orders and charting." The nurse manager later testified that the plaintiff had "time management issues," and that her handling of patient files "was a constant shuffling of paperwork" and "disorganization," "[j]ust not having a handle on this belongs here, this needs to go there," and "just constant movement of things from place to place."

In April 2009, the plaintiff visited Thomas Memorial's human resources department to ask for a transfer to another unit. The plaintiff said the nurse on the shift following hers was rude when the plaintiff was "trying to get charting done at the end of the shift." The plaintiff admitted to the human resources department that she thought her nurse manager was "doing an excellent job," and that her nurse manager placed her on an improvement plan "to try and get her charting up to par." The human resources department told the plaintiff she was not eligible to transfer while she was on an improvement plan. Thereafter, the plaintiff never returned to the human resources department, and never again sought to transfer to another unit.

The plaintiff successfully completed her improvement plan in May 2009, and in August 2009, met with her nurse manager for an annual performance evaluation. In that meeting, the plaintiff wrote that she had "good communication with manager."

A. November 12, 2009

The Med-Psych Unit used two, one-page forms to record information.

The first form was the "Patient Education Record." This one-page form was completed for each patient, every day, and was used to chart educational interactions between the patient and hospital staff. The educational activities included "current events," "recreational therapy," and "medication management." The completed form became part of the patient's official medical record. Thomas Memorial asserts the plaintiff falsely completed one part of a Patient Education Form for each of nine patients on November 12, 2009.

The second form is the "Patient Observation—Q15 Minute Flow Sheet." Again, this one-page form was completed for each patient, every day. Mental health technicians on the Med-Psych Unit were given the task of observing each patient at least once every 15 minutes and noting the patient's location and activity on the form. The technician would initial each 15-minute block. The completed form became part of the patient's official medical record.

On the day shift of November 12, 2009, at 11:45 a.m., a music therapist was scheduled to provide musical therapy to all nine patients in the Med-Psych Unit. The therapy took place in a group setting. However, only one patient attended the voluntary session. On that patient's Patient Education Record, under the heading "Recreational Therapy," the music therapist noted in writing that, between 11:45 and 12:25, she had a one-on-one session with the patient. As to the other eight patients on the unit, the music therapist wrote on each patient's Patient Education Record that, between 11:45 and 12:25, five patients were in bed, one was "in room, then sat in hallway," another was "not feeling well," and the last patient was "on phone, then came in at end."

Several hours later, when the music therapist reviewed the files for the patients in the Med-Psych Unit, she discovered that the plaintiff made notations on a section of the Patient Education Record for "medication management." The plaintiff's notations said she met individually with all nine patients—including the patient who attended the music therapist's session—between 12:00 and 12:45. The plaintiff's notes for each patient were identical: that the plaintiff gave each patient one-on-one medication education from 12:00 to 12:45; that each patient "attended"; that each patient "participated"; and that each patient "partially meets objective needs reinforcement." The plaintiff also signed each form.

The music therapist concluded that the plaintiff's notations on each Patient Education Record overlapped and conflicted with the music therapist's notations. The music therapist had conducted her session, and noted the location of each patient, from 11:45 until 12:25. The music therapist believed that the plaintiff had engaged in "charting fraud" by charting her activities from 12:00 until 12:45. The music therapist then informed the plaintiff's nurse manager of the charting conflict.

Later that same day, the nurse manager spoke with the music therapist and other staff members in the Med-Psych Unit. The nurse manager also spoke to several patients. She did not speak to the plaintiff because, by that time, the plaintiff's shift had ended and she had left the hospital. In addition, the nurse manager reviewed patient files. The nurse manager learned that the "Patient Observation—Q15 Minute Flow Sheets," completed by a mental health technician, were consistent with the music therapist's notes and inconsistent with the plaintiff's. For instance, the mental health technician recorded that two patients were asleep for the entire time that the plaintiff allegedly conducted her medication education sessions. Based on this information, the nurse manager concluded that the plaintiff had falsely documented care "to complete the paperwork to say the job had been done."

The nurse manager took her findings to the chief nursing officer for Thomas Memorial. The chief nursing officer agreed that the evidence indicated that the plaintiff had falsified the Patient Education Records, and stated that falsifying patient files was a terminable offense. The nurse manager also took her findings to the human resources manager for Thomas Memorial. The human resources manager agreed that, absent a compelling explanation, termination was the appropriate sanction.

B. Plaintiff's Termination

On November 16, 2009, the plaintiff was summoned to a meeting in the human resources office with the plaintiff's nurse manager, the human resources manager, and the acting director of the behavioral health department. The human resources manager testified that she conducted the meeting as an investigation into whether the plaintiff had committed a terminable offense, and sought to determine whether the plaintiff could explain away or contradict the pre-meeting evidence.

At the meeting, the three managers discussed the November 12^thmedical documentation with the plaintiff. The plaintiff could not explain the time overlap or the conflicting documentation. At the end of the meeting, the representatives of Thomas Memorial concluded the plaintiff had "documented care she did not give." The human resources manager therefore informed the plaintiff that her employment was...