On the heels of a lawsuit accusing him of killing his wife, nursing executive William Gamba, DNP, RN, is no longer employed by Twin Cities Community Hospital in Templeton, Calif., according to multiple news reports.
Here are eight notes on the story:
1. Mr. Gamba was serving as interim director of emergency services at Twin Cities Community Hospital when he was appointed chief nursing officer in August. He had previous experience as an assistant CNO at Orlando Health in Ocoee, Fla.
2. A civil lawsuit filed Oct. 30 claims Mr. Gamba killed his wife, Blaise Gamba, in 2016 to collect her $1 million life insurance policy and sell her assets, according to The Tribune. The lawsuit was filed by Mr. Gamba's mother-in-law, Nancy Huhta. Mr. Gamba sold their $1.5 million waterfront home in Florida in 2017, according to the Tampa Bay Times. The lawsuit also claims he was quick to take off his wedding ring and to have his ring and his wife's ring appraised after her death. He also allegedly called her job about her final paycheck and life insurance proceeds and sold her car, according to the Times.
3. Krista Deans, a spokesperson for Tenet Healthcare, the parent company of Twin Cities Community Hospital, confirmed to The Tribune that Mr. Gamba was hired in August but is no longer an employee of the health system. She was not able to comment further on his employment. The hospital has removed his name from the website entirely, according to the report.
4. Mr. Gamba's wife died in 2016 after the couple went on a boating trip in Florida. Her death was ruled a drowning and originally reported as a diving accident, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Mr. Gamba also had a medical emergency during the rescue and was unconscious when authorities arrived.
5. The lawsuit claims Mr. Gamba drowned his wife and faked a medical emergency at the scene and again at the hospital to avoid talking to police. It also claims he was "unusually interested" in her organ donation. Her donated organs, which included her lungs, were gone at the time of autopsy.
6. Mr. Gamba denies the allegations in the lawsuit. He says he was unconscious when his wife's organs were donated.
7. The lawsuit also claims Mr. Gamba has been involved in other schemes to earn insurance payouts. It claims he staged two car accidents, set a car and a boat on fire, and threw himself off a gurney in a New York hospital for payouts, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
8. Mr. Gamba's lawyer told the Times his client did not make money from the car and boat incidents and that the hospital incident was related to a worker's compensation claim.
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