A Detroit nurse filed a whistleblower lawsuit Monday against the Detroit Medical Center for her firing during the coronavirus pandemic.
A video of Kenisa Barkai, 38, of Woodhaven decked out in a gown, gloves, a hair covering and a face mask at DMC Sinai-Grace Hospital was used as an excuse to fire her last month, according to the lawsuit.
She says the real reason for her firing was that she spoke out about staffing ratios and poor conditions at the hospital.
The lawsuit, filed in Wayne County Circuit Court, seeks a jury trial and judgment for wrongful discharge and violation of Michigan’s Whistleblower Protection Act in excess of $25,000 with interest, costs, and attorney fees.
“We’re just trying to right what was wrong in regards to myself being basically terminated and basically used as a scapegoat to try to keep my coworkers quiet,” Barkai said, later adding: “We were already struggling to manage and when COVID came about, it just made it a lot more dangerous.”
The hospital system cited a violation of its social media policy in a termination document previously provided to the Free Press by Barkai.
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The hospital system does not comment on pending litigation, Brian Taylor, director of communications and media relations for DMC, said in an email.
In response to an allegation included in the lawsuit that the hospital misplaced the body of a 68-year-old woman for days, the DMC issued a statement saying patients who die at the hospital are treated with dignity and respect.
Hearts and prayers go out to the family involved in the loss, according to the statement.
“We have talked with the family and have offered our sincere apologies for the delay in providing their loved one’s remains to the funeral home and expressed our condolences for the loss of their loved one,” DMC stated.
The lawsuit comes a week after the hospital made national headlines when photographs allegedly leaked from staff to CNN showed white body bags piled up in empty rooms. The lawsuit also comes about two weeks after nurses protested conditions at the hospital.
The firing March 27 had nothing to do with a social media violation, Barkai said. It was retaliation.
A nurse of 11 years, Barkai previously said she was in talks about forming a union before the novel coronavirus arrived in Michigan.
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Barkai met with her nursing manager and the chief nursing officer at the end of January or early February about a lack of staffing and protective equipment at Sinai-Grace, according to her lawsuit. She told them she would report the issues to the proper government agencies.
Then COVID-19 patients started arriving at the hospital.
Barkai told her supervisors that she would report her safety concerns to the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration or the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, or both, according to the lawsuit.
Understaffing was already a problem, Barkai previously said. Five patients is a good number, but six was the average at the hospital and pushes nurses’ limits, she said.
Barkai said she was also serving meals, taking out garbage, filling in as a patient care assistant and hunting for gowns and masks, which seemingly started to disappear.
She was caring for seven patients, including two COVID-19 patients, on March 17, when more patients were brought up with no notice and she was asked to take care of another, she previously said.
That day, she raised concerns with the hospital’s director of nursing, according to the lawsuit.
She told the director of her concerns that treating both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients on one shift could expose non-COVID-19 patients to the virus, according to the lawsuit. It also could exacerbate a shortage of personal protective equipment, as nurses had to discard the equipment when they switched patients.
The same day, she posted a video on Facebook, she previously told the Free Press.
In a 7-second video provided by Barkai, she pointed out what she was wearing at work that day — a face mask, a hair cover, her gloves and a medical gown.
Barkai also said, “I’m ready to rock and roll. I’m going in,” in the video that was posted to social media, according to the lawsuit.
The next day, Barkai was interviewed by a Detroit news reporter about her concerns, according to the lawsuit.
The video and story was featured on WDIV-TV (Channel 4). She was subsequently fired.
The March 17 video did not violate the hospital’s policy, Barkai and her attorney, Royal Oak-based attorney Jim Rasor, say in the lawsuit.
Rasor said Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp., which owns DMC, needs to focus on patients and not money and reputation.
He pointed to the reported misplacing of the 68-year-old, the photos of bodies stacked up and nurses protesting — all mentioned in the lawsuit — as signs of a dire situation at the hospital causing nationwide embarrassment.
“Had Sinai-Grace listened to Kenisa, then you wouldn’t be hearing these horror stories from Sinai-Grace,” he said.
Sidelined when nurses are needed most and left with no health insurance for herself or her 7-year-old son, the single mom said she cried herself to sleep in the week following the firing.
She’s since found some work, albeit with lesser hours and still no health insurance, she said.
“I was trying to be a voice for everybody that I know has been very concerned,” she said. “… It’s not just (for) us as nurses, it’s … to provide these patients with adequate, safe care that they deserve.”
A status conference in the lawsuit has been set for July 21, according to Wayne County Circuit Court records.
Reporter Kristen Jordan Shamus contributed to this story.
Contact Darcie Moran: [email protected].
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