Nurse Who Challenged Doctors’ Decision Awarded $114,000 by Jury

In what lawyers called a “clear signal” encouraging nurses to speak out against doctors believed to be negligent, a Kaiser hospital nurse who quit her job after objecting to the way a patient had been treated was awarded $114,000 in civil damages Wednesday.

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury found that Sandra Bardenilla, 39, former nursing supervisor at the Kaiser Permanente facility in Harbor City, was “treated with malice and oppression” by hospital officials angered by her reports that two doctors had disconnected life-support from a comatose man.

“I feel great, absolutely great,” said a weeping Bardenilla after the verdict was announced. “I hope other nurses will realize they have legal rights also and will exercise them. We are educated not to be subservient to doctors but to be advocates for patients.”

Wrongful Termination Alleged

In her civil suit filed against the hospital in 1983, Bardenilla alleged that Kaiser wrongly terminated her employment because of her attempts to intervene on behalf of a patient, 55-year-old Clarence Herbert, who had suffered brain damage after undergoing routine intestinal surgery at Kaiser in 1981.

Herbert was taken to the intensive care unit that Bardenilla supervised and was placed on a respirator. After Herbert’s wife requested that her husband be taken off life-support, Herbert’s internist, Dr. Neil L. Barber, ordered the system removed.

Bardenilla testified that she objected to this action because the patient had not yet been declared “brain dead,” as required by California law. Herbert died about a week after the life-support system was removed.

Both Doctors Cleared

A criminal case brought against Barber and surgeon Dr. Robert J. Nejdl cleared both doctors of liability for murder. The California Court of Appeal held that doctors have no obligation to provide patients with life-support if the patient is deemed hopeless.

According to testimony in both the civil and criminal cases, Bardenilla complained about Barber’s decision to other Kaiser staff members. They told her “to be quiet,” she said. She also alerted the county Department of Health Services, which eventually brought charges against the two doctors.

Bardenilla subsequently left her job. In the civil suit, in which Bardenilla sought $70,000 as compensation for lost earnings and punitive damages of at least $1 million, Kaiser contended that it owed Bardenilla nothing because she resigned voluntarily.

Monetary Award

Wednesday’s jury verdict awarded her $35,000 in punitive damages, $56,000 for emotional distress and $23,000 in compensation for lost wages.

The civil suit attracted attention because it questioned for the first time how far a nurse can go in challenging a doctor, according to Bardenilla’s attorney, Nathan Goldberg. He said it was a rare example of a California court holding an employer liable for unfairly “terminating” an employee who had resigned.

“This is a real vindication of Ms. Bardenilla’s actions,” Goldberg said. “It shows nurses can stand up for what they believe in. They don’t have to be afraid, because their rights are protected in a court of law.”