Muffoletto v. Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center

157 F. Supp. 3d 1107, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 175717, 2015 WL 9943427
CourtDistrict Court, D. New Mexico
DecidedNovember 19, 2015
DocketNo. 14-CV-0810-MV-SCY
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 157 F. Supp. 3d 1107 (Muffoletto v. Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. New Mexico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Muffoletto v. Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, 157 F. Supp. 3d 1107, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 175717, 2015 WL 9943427 (D.N.M. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

MARTHA VÁZQUEZ, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

THIS MATTER comes before the Court on Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment and Memorandum in Support [Doc. 54]. Plaintiff timely filed a Response [Doc. 57] and the Defendants replied [Doc. 59]. The Court, having considered the Motions, briefs, attached materials, relevant law, and being otherwise fully informed, finds that the Defendants’ Motion is well-taken and will be GRANTED.

BACKGROUND

I. Plaintiffs Employment History

From February 13, 2008 until her resignation on July 3, 2012, Plaintiff Teresa Muffoletto worked as a registered nurse in the Emergency Department of the Chris-tas St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico (“CSV”). Defendants’ Undisputed Material Facts (“DUMF”) ¶ 1. At the time that CSV first hired Muffoletto, she was 56 years old. Id. During this period, Muffoletto was supervised, in various capacities, by Defendant Kelly Bernatene, the Emergency Department Director, Defendant Maclovio “Mac” Medina, the Clinical Manager, and Defendant David Garduño, a Clinical Supervisor. Id. ¶ 2. From the facts presented to the Court, it seems that Plaintiff’s employment proceeded without incident until “early 2012” when she “retum[ed] [to] unrestricted duty” after an injury. Id. ¶ 4.

II. The Early 2012 Incident

At some point in “early 2012,” while Muffoletto was working at the triage intake station of the Emergency Department, a patient, whom Muffoletto knew to have a history of coronary issues, presented with cardiac distress. Id. ¶4. Given that such potentially severe conditions must be diagnosed and resolved expeditiously, CSV has adopted “protocols [that] require a patient in cardiac distress to have an electrocardiogram within seven to ten minutes” of their arrival in the Emergency Department. Id. It is undisputed that it “took at least 40 minutes before someone came to do an EKG [electrocardiogram] on this patient.” Doc. 54-1 at 36. However, Plaintiff contends that she was left “alone at the triage window without any assistance, contrary to acceptable practices” and that she did her best to manage the situation, including calling “the Charge Nurse twice to get assistance with the multiple patients in the Emergency Department.” Plaintiffs Response to Facts Offered by the Defendants (“PRFOD”) ¶4. By contrast, Defendants assert that “a security guard recognized the severity of the situation and took Muf-foletto’s patient into the ED for immediate assistance.” DUMF ¶ 4. Ultimately, it was learned that “the patient was indeed having another heart attack.” Id.

After this incident, Clinical Manager Medina investigated the matter in order to determine what had transpired. Id. ¶ 5. While Plaintiff may “dispute the decision made by” Medina, PRFOD ¶ 6, she does not dispute that he “gave Muffoletto a corrective action and final warning” and that she “understood that, in Medina’s judgment, she had not done enough to ensure safe patient care and that she was subject to termination for any additional lapses.” DUMF ¶ 6.

III.The April 2012 Incident

In April 2012, “Muffoletto discharged a patient without having a doctor’s order.” Id. ¶ 7. While Defendant attempts to put this fact into dispute through a self-serving [1111]*1111affidavit, the Court will disregard those portions of the affidavit that conflict with Muffoletro’s prior deposition testimony. See, e.g., Burns v. Bd. of Cnty. Comm’r of Jackson Cnty., 330 F.3d 1275, 1282 (10th Cir.2003) (explaining that an affidavit may be treated as a sham where “the affiant was cross-examined during his earlier testimony,” had “had access to the pertinent evidence at the time of his earlier testimony,” and was not confused during earlier testimony).

Muffoletto testified in her deposition that “the doctor was standing up with the patient’s chart” and that “at one point it sounded like she said, go ahead and discharge the patient.” Doc. 54-1 at 38 (emphasis added). Apparently, Muffoletto discharged this patient, realized her mistake, and then called the patient, informing her to return. Id. Muffoletto testified that during this call she said, “I’m sorry, you know, this is obviously my error or my fault.” Id. See also Doc, 54-3 at 10 (“in this instance, Teresa had discharged a patient without a discharge order.”). While the patient “was back in the ER within 15 minutes,” this incident represents an error nonetheless. Doc. 54-1 at 38-39.

As a result of this episode, Medina again conducted an investigation, and, indeed, did not want “to rush into a decision” regarding how to move forward. Doc. 54-3 at 11. Ultimately, Medina concluded that the incident was not particularly severe, so he documented “the conversation with Teresa, so that way there would be a record,” but he took “no corrective action” because “it wasn’t something that was absolutely horrible.” Id. Notably, Plaintiffs sole objections to these facts are that the “documentation is unsigned by Defendant Medina” and that this document “was made twenty (20) or twenty-one (21) days after the alleged incident occurred.” PRFOD ¶ 8. This argument however, does nothing to undercut the value of Medina’s above-quoted deposition testimony, which draws from his personal knowledge, rather than merely a document.

IV. The May 11, 2012 Incident

On May 11, 2012 Muffoletto documented that “she had administered a controlled medication that she had not actually given.” DUMF ¶ 9. It is undisputed that, on the date in question, a patient “had been suffering seizures when he arrived in the ED.” Id. ¶ 11. Consequently, a physician “ordered administration of Ativan, which can prevent seizures.” Id. Plaintiff, “the nurse assigned to this patient,” indicated on the chart that the patient had received the drug, but she did so before actually administering the Ativan. Id. Unfortunately, when Plaintiff returned to the patient’s room with the medication, he had already been taken away for a CT scan; the patient suffered another seizure in the CT department. Id. While Plaintiff argues that “pulling and charting medications pri- or to the administration of the medication occurs routinely in” the Emergency Department, PRFOD ¶ 11, she also agreed at her deposition that if “a medication is charted, it should be given.” Doc. 54-at 8. There does not appear to be any conflict in this testimony; it is consistent to say that a procedure should be charted immediately before it is performed and that all procedures that are charted should actually be performed. Whatever the case, it can hardly be disputed that failing to administer a drug as described in the chart constitutes an error of some variety.

V. The May 25, 2012 Incident

“During the evening of May 25, [2012]” Plaintiff “was assigned to care for four patients during the last several hours of her shift.” DUMF ¶ 15. At approximately 7:00 p.m., a “male with possible sepsis and hypotension” arrived at the Emergen[1112]*1112cy Department. Id,

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157 F. Supp. 3d 1107, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 175717, 2015 WL 9943427, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/muffoletto-v-christus-st-vincent-regional-medical-center-nmd-2015.