By Roger DuPuis
WILKES-BARRE — A Schuylkill County woman has won a $1.5 million jury verdict over her dismissal from the Bloomsburg University Nurse Anesthesia Program, operated in conjunction with Geisinger Medical Center, over her alleged failure to take a drug test.
Angela Borrell’s case was heard in U.S. District Court, before Judge A. Richard Caputo.
According to Borrell’s lawsuit, filed in October 2012, she was summoned out of her clinical training on Sept. 24, 2012, by program director Arthur F. Richer, who told her he had noticed a change in her demeanor and appearance.
“Ms. Borrell found this statement to be vague and ambiguous. She noted that she had never been reprimanded about her appearance or demeanor by her clinical supervisor(s), professors” or Bloomsburg Nursing Department Chairwoman Michelle Ficca, the document states.
“In an effort to understand Mr. Richer’s concerns, Ms. Borrell asked him if he could further explain the basis for his vague and ambiguous accusation because he rarely observed her during her clinical hours and was not an instructor,” the suit stated. “Mr. Richer refused the request and instead asked Ms. Borrell to submit to a drug test, thereby implying that he suspected that she had taken illicit drugs.”
Borrell said she had not, and wanted to speak with her parents that night.
“Ms. Borrell talked to her parents that night, and decided that she did not want the false accusations to ruin her career. Accordingly, she decided to submit to the drug test Mr. Richer had requested,” the suit says.
But her efforts to contact Richer and others of the decision were met with silence and rebuff, the suit says, and on Sept. 27, 2012, Borrell said she received a letter signed by Richer and Ficca informing her that she had been expelled due to her alleged failure to take a drug test.
Her suit said Borrell was never granted an opportunity by Bloomsburg to appeal, and alleged violations of due process rights, equal protection and breach of contract.
According to court documents, Geisinger officials had concerns about Borrell because at times she appeared disheveled and dirty, and that classmates came forward to tell program officials that they believed Borrell was having issues with drug use.
The defendants replied that Borrell’s initial refusal to participate violated Geisinger policy; and that “there was no Bloomsburg appeal process for Borrell’s dismissal since the decision was made at the clinical institution and Bloomsburg had no jurisdiction over the policies of a clinical institution.”
According to court documents, jurors on Tuesday found:
• That Borrell would have been dismissed from the program if she had been given her procedural due process rights, but Borrell did suffer injuries as a result of the denial of due process, as opposed to her dismissal from the nurse anesthesia program.
• That $415,000 is the amount of compensatory damages that will fairly compensate Borrell for her injuries.
• That Geisinger violated Borrell’s rights, though Richer and Ficca, individually, did not.
• That Geisinger owes Borrell $1.1 million in punitive damages.
Roger DuPuis may be reached at 570-991-6113 or on Twitter @rogerdupuis2.