Santee

A supervising nurse at Santee’s Edgemoor Geriatric Hospital has filed a civil lawsuit against the county and seven former or current employees for allegedly making her the “scapegoat” for a patient death 16 months ago.

El Cajon attorney Thomas J. Castonguay filed the lawsuit on behalf of the nurse, Gertrude Shaw, and her husband, Robert, seeking unspecified damages over county actions following the Dec. 10, 1984, drowning of Josephine T. Noonan. The patient died after a nurse’s aide left the elderly woman unattended in a bathtub.

Named defendants in the civil lawsuit are Clifford Graves, former county chief administrative officer; James A. Forde, former head of the county health services department; Health Services Deputy Director Paul Sims; County Counsel Lloyd Harmon Jr.; Deputy County Counsel Paul Bruce, and Health Services Department administrative analysts Howard DeYoung and Thomas Fiorsentine.

The suit charges that the defendants “agreed and conspired with each other to harass, humiliate, embarrass and discipline (Shaw) by filing false and malicious charges against the plaintiff . . . knowing such discipline was unnecessary, unwarranted, excessive and discriminatory.”

The actions were taken, the suit claims, “to give the appearance of (the defendants’) being able to perform in their positions in an effective manner and bring facilities such as Edgemoor up to the standards required by the California Department of Health Services.”

The facility is considered to be a hospital of last resort for those who aren’t accepted by any other hospitals. Problems in administration and patient care at the aging hospital led to last year’s resignations of Graves and Forde several months apart.

Shaw claims she has been passed over for promotions, unable to find other employment and has been subjected to adverse publicity. She entered a claim for damages against the county last May which was rejected.