Kaiser Fired Doctor for Blowing Whistle, She Says

LOS ANGELES (CN) - A Kaiser doctor was fired for reporting bad patient care practices, she claims in court.

Beginning in early October 2012, while working at Kaiser Permanente, West Los Angeles, Dr. Nancy Rahnama reported "unsafe patient care," including "inactions and/or commissions of medical malpractice; quality of patient care; and compromised care by healthcare professionals; and multiple others," according to her complaint for wrongful termination.

Within two months she was fired, the complaint says.

On Oct. 26, Rahnama's supervisor, George Mallouk M.D. "summoned plaintiff to his office and demanded plaintiff's resignation without any stated reason." Three days later, Rahnama demanded that Kaiser give a reason for her termination.

Nov. 14, Mallouk told Rahnama she was asked to resign due to "poor performance including communication issues, quality issues, service issues and loss of confidence by staff" which were "false and/or exaggerated and/or pretextual reason(s)," according to the complaint.

Nov. 20, supervisors Mallouk and Eric Lee M.D. fired Rahnama, effective Dec. 4, according to the complaint.

Dr. Rahnama is suing for retaliation, wrongful termination in violation of public policy and violation of the Healthcare Whistleblower Statute.

She is represented by Marcus Mancini of Sherman Oaks, Calif.

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