Union says Providence fired 15 nurses in retaliation for news coverage of girl’s suicide at Spokane hospital

Washington's largest nurses union is accusing Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center of retaliation after the Spokane hospital fired 15 nurses and disciplined another following news reports about a 12-year-old girl's suicide at the facility.

The fired and disciplined nurses were accused by Sacred Heart of violating patient privacy laws by accessing the child’s medical records without being involved in her care, nurses told union officials at the Washington State Nurses Association. Additional employees beyond the 15 nurses were also terminated or disciplined on similar grounds, according to former employees, though the hospital would not say how many.

Sarah June Niyimbona had been awaiting long-term psychiatric placement for self-harm and suicide attempts for months when she slipped out of her room on Sacred Heart's pediatric floor on April 13. As hospital staff discovered she was missing and began a search, Sarah walked a quarter mile to the fourth floor of a parking garage on the hospital campus and jumped, dying two hours later in the emergency room. 

Some pediatric staff were critical of Sarah's care, telling InvestigateWest that her death would not have happened if she had been able to receive care in a specialized children’s psychiatric center that Sacred Heart shuttered just six months before. Instead, they said, she was left unsupervised in an unlocked unit where both staff and rooms were ill-equipped to keep psychiatric patients like Sarah safe. In April, three employees spoke to InvestigateWest on the condition of anonymity for fear of losing their jobs. 

David Keepnews, the association's executive director, said nurses outside of the Emergency Department are often called in to assist with care and provide information related to a patient’s treatment. 

"We reject Providence Sacred Heart’s claims that privacy was violated by nurses who were doing their jobs to assist in efforts to save the life of a 12-year-old girl in the hospital’s care," he said in a statement.

Nurses told the union that they were also asked by hospital officials whether they had provided information to reporters. 

“Many nurses say they feel targeted because of coverage of the suicide in the media,” said union spokesperson Ruth Schubert in an email. “Nurses say managers have accused them of being spiteful and sneaky in their actions — accusations that nurses deny and that are inappropriate.”

One employee who was not a nurse says Providence told her she violated patient privacy even after she had voluntarily left for another job.

The employee told InvestigateWest she had cared for Sarah nearly every shift for weeks and saw her just hours before she escaped her room. When the employee arrived at work the next day and was told Sarah had died, no additional information was provided, she said. Struggling to believe the news and concerned that the care she provided the previous day had played a role, she clicked into Sarah’s chart, whose name still appeared on her list of patients for the day, she said.

“I think at the time, I wasn't really thinking about (patient privacy) regulations. My patient just died,” she said. “I can acknowledge that, yeah, I probably shouldn't have been in her chart. But at the same time, it also felt like I should have known what happened, because I was working with her so often.”

The night of Sarah’s death, the hospital emailed a “news alert” informing staff that the child who went missing had been found and was being cared for in the hospital. The message warned staff not to post or comment on social media and not to access medical records unless they were part of Sarah’s care team. It’s not clear if all employees received that email, however.

A Providence communications director, Allie Hyams, told InvestigateWest that Providence takes potential privacy violations “very seriously.” She did not respond to the union’s claim of retaliation.

“We review employee conduct and take appropriate action, including termination of employment, where warranted,” she said in a statement. “Patient privacy is one of our top priorities."

The nurses union has filed a grievance against Sacred Heart seeking to reinstate fired nurses. Termination for a patient privacy violation disqualifies employees from being rehired by Providence and, if reported to licensing authorities such as the Board of Nursing, can result in disciplinary action including the suspension or loss of their license.

InvestigateWest’s article that described employees' concerns about the victim’s care triggered an investigation by the Washington Department of Health, which found that Sacred Heart endangered three other suicidal patients this year, in addition to Sarah. 

The probe revealed that the hospital had repeatedly violated state safety standards by failing to follow its own policies around screening and supervision of suicidal patients. It also raised alarms over Sacred Heart's delayed response after Sarah escaped the pediatric unit. 

A Department of Health spokesperson confirmed that the investigation was closed after Sacred Heart implemented corrections.

Sarah's family is also suing the hospital for alleged negligence and medical malpractice. The lawsuit is ongoing.