CHARLESTON - A Fayette County woman has filed a suit against a local hospital, claiming she was fired because she raised concerns over patient safety issues.
Zeda Fox filed the suit April 30 in Kanawha Circuit Court against Charleston Area Medical Center.
According to the suit, Fox was employed by CAMC for approximately one year before she was fired Feb. 24, 2008.
Fox claims she was fired because she had repeatedly raised patient safety issues, particularly those related to understaffing of nurses.
According to the lawsuit, the firing is constituted unlawful retaliatory discharge, as articulated in the 1978 West Virginia Supreme Court decision Harless v. First National Bank in Fairmont.
Fox claims she was slandered by CAMC when management personnel stated her firing was due to insubordination. Fox claims she was not insubordinate during her employment at the hospital.
Fox seeks punitive and compensatory damages, as well as lost wages, front pay and back pay.
Attorney Mark Atkinson is representing Fox. The case has been assigned to Judge James Stucky.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 08-C-837
Woman says CAMC fired her because she spoke up about patient safety
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