Former Friendly Hills Nurses Sue

Sixteen nurses formerly employed by the now-closed Friendly Hills Medical Center in La Habra filed a lawsuit Friday, alleging that they were wrongfully terminated and that patient safety was jeopardized by managed-care cutbacks.

The nurses had worked in the obstetrics ward of the hospital. The 26-year-old facility was closed two weeks ago by MedPartners Inc. of Birmingham, Ala., which acquired Friendly Hills’ parent company in 1996.

The lawsuit against MedPartners and Friendly Hills seeks unspecified damages, to be determined by the court.

The nurses all had good job performance records, and “their unit had a family atmosphere prior to MedPartners’ acquisition of Friendly Hills,” the lawsuit states. “Thereafter, the environment at Friendly Hills quickly changed to a stereotypical managed-care, corporate environment, including but not limited to a sharp reduction in staffing levels and a severe decrease in the quality of patient care.”

A spokeswoman for MedPartners said Friday that the company had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment at the time.

The nurses contend that they were forced to work 12-hour shifts without adequate breaks for meals and had to fill in at departments where they were not qualified or trained to perform specialized patient care duties.

“The reduction in staffing levels created a hospital environment that was ripe for disaster,” the lawsuit states.

The nurses “feared that the lives of patients were endangered in MedPartners’ effort to cut costs,” the lawsuit states.

Their lawyer, Kenneth Lako of Tustin, said the nurses also feared they would be blamed if patients’ conditions deteriorated.

Several of the nurses resigned because of the situation, according to the lawsuit.

MedPartners closed the obstetrics unit in January. The lawsuit states that the company “defamed” those who resigned by blaming the closure on them, “while in fact the unit was closed due to [MedPartners’] preoccupation with corporate profits.”

Those who were transferred to other units of the hospital feared that the facility would close and that they would be laid off, but “they were continually assured that their fears were unwarranted,” the lawsuit states.

“The policy of deceit was instigated to maintain the minimum staffing required,” the nurses contend.