A certified nursing assistant who worked at PeaceHealth Cottage Grove (Ore.) Community Medical Center has filed a lawsuit, claiming he was fired in retaliation for his complaints about what he described as unsafe staffing, according to The Lund Report.
Clinton Petit filed the lawsuit July 13 in Lane County (Ore.) Circuit Court.
His lawsuit says he complained about low staffing levels at the hospital internally and to the Oregon Health Authority, stayed home in July 2020 amid intensified staffing strain during the COVID-19 pandemic, and was fired, according to The Lund Report.
Mr. Petit's lawsuit comes after the Oregon Health Authority found that Cottage Grove had not complied with state requirements for hospitals to set and follow their own nurse staffing ratio, based partially on patient need, according to The Lund Report, which cites records obtained from the authority under state public records law. The findings were based on a complaint by Mr. Petit and a 2018 inspection.
Mr. Petit's attorney did not respond to emails from The Lund Report seeking comment.
In a statement shared with Becker's, Vancouver, Wash.-based PeaceHealth said: "PeaceHealth does not publicly comment on pending litigation. However, providing safe, high-quality care in our communities is our highest priority, and we have policies and practices in place that encourage our caregivers to raise any safety concern, at any time. Thanks to their dedication, PeaceHealth medical centers have maintained or improved performance on internal and external reported safety measures during the past two years of the pandemic."
Cottage Grove is part of the PeaceHealth system.
The Lund Report's full article is available here.