Nurse Says Hospital CEO Retaliated|For Her Refusal To Violate Medical Privacy

BEAUMONT, TEXAS (CN) - A licensed vocational nurse claims Renaissance Hospital wrongfully fired her because she refused to give a patient's confidential medical records to a woman who demanded them, and to alter the patient's medications at the woman's demand. The woman turned out to be the wife of Renaissance CEO Chris McMahon, and the patient was her father, nurse Gwendolyn Marks claims in Jefferson County Court.

Marks claims the CEOs wife "was overbearing, demanding and persistent to the point of badgering the nurses." She says the woman demanded to see the patient's chart, demanded confidential information and demanded "that the hospital staff begin administering particular medications to the patient."

The incidents allegedly happened at the Renaissance Hospital in Groves, Texas.

Marks says the woman returned to the nurses' station with her husband, the CEO, and that "Later that same day there was a meeting during which Renaissance CEO Chris McMahon attempted to terminate Plaintiff because of her response to the CEO's wife, specifically, Plaintiff's refusal to permit his wife to review her father's char and for Plaintiff's refusal to alter the administration of medications without a doctor's order."

Nurse Marks says she was not fired because the company's HR officer would not do it. The HR officer retired, though, and shortly afterward, Renaissance fired her. Marks says it was malicious retaliation for her refusal to violate medical privacy laws. She demands punitive damages.

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