SIOUX CITY — A former hospital unit supervisor has dismissed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the former MercyOne Siouxland Medical Center in Sioux City and its parent companies.
Cynthia Tener filed the dismissal Sept. 9. Her attorney, Jessica Kallstrom-Schreckengost, said she was not able to comment or provide information about the dismissal.
Tener had said in her lawsuit that she was fired for reporting safety and malpractice concerns about a heart surgeon to the hospital’s ethics committee. The reporting of such concerns is a protected activity in Iowa and was a determining factor in the decision to fire her, Tener said.
The former director of MercyOne’s cardiovascular service line in which she supervised nurses and clinic leaders, Tener had informed hospital administrators of concerns brought to her by nurses and another doctor that the heart surgeon was performing risky procedures on patients without obtaining proper consent from them and performing an excessive number of add-on procedures.
Administrators told Tener she was fired for creating a toxic work environment, but refused to provide information about any complaints against her, according to the lawsuit, filed in August 2022 in Woodbury County District Court against Mercy Health Services-Iowa Corp., which does business as MercyOne Siouxland Medical Center, and its parent company, Indiana-based Trinity Health Corporation.
A MercyOne spokeswoman declined to comment on the dismissal, saying the company does not comment on litigation.
MercyOne’s Sioux City hospital and its affiliated clinics recently were acquired by UnityPoint Health, and the hospital is now known as UnityPoint Health — St. Luke’s — Downtown.
Tener initially filed her lawsuit in federal court on charges of retaliatory firing and retaliation in violation of the federal False Claims Act. A federal judge dismissed the suit, ruling it did not provide enough factual evidence to show the hospital’s sole basis for firing Tener was retaliation under provisions of the False Claims Act. The judge said she’d be better off filing her lawsuit in state court.
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