“Keep Your Mouth Shut”

KCCI reported on a whistleblower’s wrongful termination lawsuit in Iowa. The facts are amazing and the situation tragic. In Pocahontas, Iowa, a whistleblower was fired from a nursing home after being told to “keep your mouth shut” regarding a resident’s death.

The whistleblower, Tylenol Schultz, is suing the Fonda Specialty Care nursing home, Care Initiatives, and LPN Becky Manning in the Pocahontas County District Court. Schultz claims that she was hired in the summer of 2022 by Fonda Specialty Care by its former administrator, Jennifer Blair. She was first hired to work in the home as a CNA.

The incident occurred on February 18, 2023, when the facility had allegedly scheduled a temporary agency nurse, Manning, due to a shortage of overnight shift nurses. During this shift, the 87-year-old Marvin “Pete” Jacob, who had a tracheostomy, passed away because Manning’s refusal to suction Jacob’s airway.

“Despite multiple requests by Schultz to suction the resident — over 10 times, from 6 p.m. on Feb.18, 2023, to 2:25 a.m., Feb.19, 2023 — Manning would not suction the resident, nor did she attempt to use the suction machine,” the lawsuit claims. Shultz claims that she tried to call “supervisory level staff” who worked for the home, but no one answered any calls. She also says that she asked someone to call 911, but was told by Manning that no physician was able to provide an order for a hospital evaluation at the time. Schultz claims that along with her, another CNA witnessed Mr. Jacob struggle to breathe as he “pointed to his neck, coughed, gagged, struggled to breathe, and turned colors from the lack of oxygen.”

Jacob passed away due to a lack of oxygen.

Schultz alleges that this experience was traumatizing, as they had to excuse themselves from the facility. The other CNA was “physically ill, to the point of vomiting.”

Once Schultz left at the end of her shift, she received multiple texts from Blair saying, “Keep your mouth shut and keep your opinions to yourself.”

Later that day, Schultz was called to a meeting with Blair, where she was then told that she was being fired due to “resident complaints.” Schultz reported her concerns about Manning’s “actions and inactions” to both the Iowa Long-Term Care Ombudsman’s Office and the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals.

The Department cited Fonda Specialty Care for failing to provide necessary respiratory care to Jacob and fined the facility $10,000. This was later reduced by 35%, to $6,500, due to the lack of an appeal in the case. Manning was charged with felony wanton neglect and later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor wanton neglect. Last year, Manning agreed with the Iowa Board of Nursing, under which she had her nursing practice indefinitely suspended.

Schultz believes that she was fired for making a complaint, and not based on any resident complaints. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for wrongful termination. Some of the allegations stated in the lawsuit match the findings of reports from state inspectors regarding the events leading up to Jacob’s death. According to inspectors, an aide saw Jacob in his recliner and was instructed to get a nurse right away as it looked like he was “in trouble”.

This is when Jacob was pointing to his neck, gasping for air. One worker told inspectors that she saw Jacob grow “really pale”, so she left to find a nurse to suction Jacob. When the nurse arrived, she claimed he was having a heart attack due to his blue and purple color. The suction machine that could have been used to save Jacob’s life was left untouched on a nearby dresser as the nurse said, “Just a minute,” and left. Manning told inspectors that she did not suction Jacob, as she had been previously informed that she did not have to handle tracheostomies. She said she left the room to retrieve supplies and check Mr. Jacob’s vitals. Manning was allegedly trying to determine whether the resident had a complete code or a DNR order. Manning said that when an aide told her that she was needed in Mr. Jacob’s room, he had no vital signs and that she “pronounced her dead.” Despite recommendations from Manning’s colleagues, she said that it never occurred to her to use the suction machine.

In addition to the lawsuit by Schultz, Mr. Jacob’s death is the subject of a separate lawsuit filed by his family against Fonda Specialty Care, Care Initiatives, nurse Manning, and the former assistant director of nursing, Amanda Meyer. The family’s lawsuit claims that when Manning arrived for work on February 18, 2023, she was aware of Jacob’s tracheostomy and how it required suctioning at some point throughout the night. Manning had told others that she was “unwilling or incapable” of performing this work. Following Jacob’s death, Manning had falsely informed Jacob’s son. She said that he went “quickly and peacefully.”

According to the lawsuit, Blair had admitted to withholding information from the family and failing to inform them of the state’s investigation and findings. A judge ruled that, because the son, Scott Jacobs, signed an arbitration agreement upon admission, one that he reviewed for just 34 seconds, the case must proceed to arbitration, not court.