Former SRMC employee claims she was forced out of her job for speaking out.
By Staff Writer
Mar 23, 2005, 17:00
PETERSBURG - Lynne M. Wiggins, a former employee of Southside Regional Medical Center, has a ton of concerns. And, according to Wiggins, it was some of those concerns led to her dismissal from the Petersburg hospital.
Wiggins, who ran the medical assistance program at SRMC for one and a half years, was terminated in May 2004, just several weeks after she discovered that one of the health programs was being dropped.
Wiggins became alarmed when she learned that SRMC offi cials had agreed to close its Community Assistance Medication Program, designed for patients unable to afford medications.
Wiggins says she was instructed to stop ordering medication, and allow the CAMP program to shut down.
She immediately voiced her opinion about the manner in which offi cials were handling the situation, and eventually went public, contacting the media, which included holding a press conference. “I tried to explain that you just can’t cut off medications,” Wiggins stated. “It’s a formalogical process involved. You have to give these people time to transition into something else.”
Wiggins said the hospital authority became upset over her comments.
As she continued to work for SRMC, Wiggins says she began to experience what she describes as acts of retaliation.
Upon reporting to the hospital’s pharmacy department for work one day, Wiggins noticed her name was not on the roster for the week.
She proceeded to question Lisa Friday, who was vice president of humam resources at the time.
Friday’s initial response, according to Friday, was that hours were being cut back. That, said Wiggins, did not sit well with her.
“I had just seen an ad in the paper for a position in the pharmacy,” Wiggins said. “So how could they be cutting back hours. When I explained this to Ms. Friday, she simply yelled, and stated that ‘you’re in a right to work state and I don’t have to tell you a thing.’”
Wiggins was ultimately cut from the pharmacy department altogether, and says she was never given a legitimate reason. Wiggins’ fi nal encounter came when she was terminated from her position in the hospital’s medical assistance department – a day she says she will never forget.
Wiggins says she was approached in her offi ce by three head offi cials from SRMC who informed her that her services were no longer needed. But according to Wiggins, that wasn’t the end of their discussions. She says she was literally held inside an offi ce upon trying to leave.
“They said that I had to answer questions before I left,” said Wiggins. “They started interrogating me about missing fi les from the medication program. I stated to them several times that I did not have any fi les that belonged to SRMC.”
Wiggins says all three offi cials began to yell at her while asking the same questions repeatedly. Wiggins, who was 49 at the time, started feeling uncomfortable. “At that point, I went into a medical crisis,” said Wiggins. “I was shaking, and I was soaked in perspiration. I kept telling them that I was ill and that I needed to leave. But they simply told me that I could not leave.” Wiggins says she managed to escape out of the offi ce. She informed hospital offi cials that she was in a medical crisis and needed emergency assistance. But Wiggins says she didn’t receive any help.
“They just told me to hand in my badge and leave,” Wiggins stated.
Wiggins identifi ed Friday as one of the offi cials who was present at the time of the altercation. While employed with SRMC, Wiggins says she noticed that fi les from the CAMP program were being handled by several different employees, as well as a non-employee who was reportedly a friend of the director.
Wiggins says she was asked by a director to falsify a client’s insurance documents in order to meet the enrollment requirements for the CAMP program.
She says she sent a documentation log to former CEO David Dunham concerning several incidents surrounding the program, including a series of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act violations.
“Files were just being handed out to anyone,” Wiggins stated. “At one point, they were even letting the boyfriends of patient access the fi les. There were no check-ins or releases being conducted. But I refused to give these fi les out if they were not the actual patient.”
But Wiggins says that hospital offi cials proceeded to blame her for missing fi les, and ultimately threatened to take legal actions against her if fi les were not recovered. According to Wiggins, hospital offi cials even fi led a complaint with the Department of Health Professions.
“It was all about malice,” said Wiggins. “They left out the information that would have caused them to get in trouble by the state board.”
Wiggins is currently unemployed. She’s still battling legal matters against the hospital authority. “They intended to cut these poor people out and they didn’t even care about it,” said Wiggins. “But they didn’t expect a person to stand up against them.”
Alzenia Mayfi eld, president of the Petersburg branch NAACP, was among those made aware of Wiggins’ plight. Mayfi eld, who has been engaged in confl ict with at least SRMC physician in the past, “I knew that it would come down to this,” said Mayfi eld. “All of these issues had been taken to several city offi cials and the hospital authority, but no one has ever responded.” |