THOUSAND OAKS : Kaiser Nurse Files Suit for Defamation

A nurse at Kaiser Permanente’s clinic in Thousand Oaks--who is also a patient there--filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the medical facility and eight of her colleagues, claiming invasion of privacy and defamation.

Last July, the licensed vocational nurses who worked with her staged a one-day strike, citing their frustrations over the care of an unnamed patient who they said was addicted to the prescription drug Demerol.

In her lawsuit, Linda Vergilis said her colleagues were referring to her.

Vergilis said in the suit that she has taken Demerol since 1984 because of physical ailments, including migraine headaches. But since 1992 when she began working at the Thousand Oaks clinic, the nurses there have considered her an addict and refused to honor her prescription, the suit stated.

The picketing and press coverage of the strike have caused damage to her reputation, according to the lawsuit. The suit names the other nurses and Kaiser as defendants.

Although Vergilis was never mentioned by name in any of the newspaper stories, her attorney, Richard Hamlish of Westlake, said she was damaged nonetheless.

“All the people know who she is. It’s not a secret. If it was a secret, she would not be filing a lawsuit,” he said.

The lawsuit also cited a comment attributed to Kaiser’s area director of public affairs, Pamela Spencer, who said the strike “decisively goes against medical ethics with regards to patient confidentiality.”

Kaiser spokeswoman Linda Quon said officials there had not seen the lawsuit.

None of the nurses named as defendants were on duty Tuesday, said a woman who answered the phone at the Thousand Oaks clinic. She said several of the nurses had transferred to other clinics or were no longer employed by Kaiser.