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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A white nurse who worked in neonatal intensive care unit at a Torrance hospital is suing parent company Providence Health System-Southern California, alleging she was subjected to a backlash for speaking out against discriminatory treatment of minority patients, improperly denied a religious exemption to taking a coronavirus shot and wrongfully fired in 2022.
Trisha Loftis' Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit allegations include termination based on religious creed, discrimination and harassment based on associational race and retaliation. She seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
"Loftis believed the facility was illegally providing worse care to and discriminating against Black and Latino patients and their families compared to white families," the suit states.
A Providence representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit brought Oct. 23.
Loftis was hired as a NICU nurse at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center in February 2016 and three years later was promoted to charge nurse in the same unit. In mid-2020, Loftis, who is white, started talking to team members and supervisors about alleged disparate treatment of patents and their families based on race and ethnicity, the suit states.
The alleged unequal treatment included Black and Latino families being treated rudely and with less patience by the staff than white families as well as staff members saying things like, "They are that kind of family" and "Those people make me uncomfortable," according to the suit.
Loftis told the NICU managers about concerns, but the plaintiff believes nothing was done, according to the suit. So, Loftis and a Black charge nurse took posted messages and pamphlets within the hospital to raise cultural awareness among the NICU staff and decrease the discrimination they allegedly saw, the suit states.
As a result, Loftis and the Black nurse suffered retaliation from the staff, including alienation of both and the use of the "N word," according to the suit, which further alleges that management once again did nothing to address the issues after the pair made a report of a hostile work environment.
Although a unit nurse was fired for saying that a newly hired nurse was given the job only because she is Black, Loftis, her Black colleague and the new Black nurse were subjected to further retaliation, the suit states. The trio's colleagues circulated a petition asking that Loftis and the Black charge nurse step down and the pair's posters and pamphlets were torn down, the suit states.
Loftis also maintains she was harassed for refusing to get the coronavirus shot and that the stress of her overall work environment required that she go on a medical leave. She says she objected to getting the vaccination on both religious and spiritual grounds, but not based on the teachings of a traditional religion.
When Loftis' medical time off ended, she was put on unpaid administrative leave, the suit states.
Loftis was fired in February 2022 after two appeals of her coronavirus shot exemption were denied, the suit states. The plaintiff believes that every other staff member who objected to the vaccination on religious grounds and was granted an exemption belonged to an organized faith and provided a Bible scripture quotation, the suit states.