CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (WCMH) – A former Chillicothe hospital employee is suing the hospital, Adena Health Systems, for wrongful termination.
He said it came after reporting another employee’s behavior. The nurse he reported is now in legal trouble in a different county.
Registered nurse, Kimberly Clark is facing felony charges in Hamilton County for allegedly taking fentanyl from her recent employer in Cincinnati. The address on the affidavit where the alleged theft took place is 7500 State Rd, Cincinnati Ohio which belongs to Mercy Hospital – Anderson.
A former Adena employee said he reported her for the same thing while they both worked at Adena Health. He said he lost his job for speaking up.
“I had gone into a patient’s room and found one of the other nurses with a controlled substance, fentanyl in her hands, that belonged to my patient,” former Adena Health employee Dustin Eing said.
The lawsuit said Eing reported what he saw to Adena Health verbally and in writing.
“The following day, I talked to coworkers about what happened, and following that there were just some retaliatory things that happened to me and ultimately lost my job because of it,” Eing said. “It blindsided me. I had no idea.”
An old Facebook post from Clark said she resigned from where she worked.
“She actually was allowed to just quit and walk away,” Eing said.
He said all he wanted was to protect his patient.
“I knew that something was you know, was not right that was going on,” Eing said. “I felt if I didn’t stop it now it was going to happen sooner or later again and potentially kill somebody.”
Several former Adena health employees told NBC4 that Clark left Adena and went to work for Mercy Hospital in Cincinnati where she is facing theft of drug felony charges. Hamilton County court documents allege Clark did knowingly take fentanyl from Mercy Hospital without consent.
“It puts employees in a position where they’re afraid to come forward because they see something like this happen. And it often does harm to the public, not only to the public, if it’s a business sometimes customers are hurt,” Eing’s attorney Rayl Stepter said.
Former Adena employees said Clark was not reported to law enforcement in Ross County, where Adena is.
NBC4 reached out to the Ross County Sheriff’s Office. They said they have “no records of a Kimberly Clark associated with theft of drugs.”
NBC4 wanted to ask Adena if they reported Eing’s claims to police and why Eing lost his job. They would not sit down for an interview or answer questions via email.
Instead, Adena sent a statement saying:
“We cannot comment on events taking place outside our organization. However, Adena Health has strict policies and protocols in place that are followed when any employee issue arises, inclusive of non-retaliation for any concerns reported in good faith, including in the instance you have referenced. All protocols are in accordance with all legal and regulatory guidelines, including both Ohio’s pharmacy and nursing boards. Any claims to the contrary are false.”
The Ohio Nursing Board is investigating the claims about Clark.
“The biggest resolution that I want from this is just to make it so that hospitals are a safe place to report these kinds of actions because inevitably it’s going to happen any place, no place is safe from this kind of behavior. I just want to make it so that it’s a safer place for this for people that witnessed these types of things for them to come forward,” Eing said.
NBC4 reached out to Clark’s lawyer and Mercy Hospital for a comment but has not heard back. Clark has a court date in Cincinnati on March 6.
