Tucson Medical Center has filed suit against a nurse-staffing agency, claiming the company didn't do a proper background check on a nurse who treated a TMC patient in the hours before she died.
In a complaint filed in Pima County Superior Court, TMC alleges the staffing company, American Traveler Staffing Professionals, violated its contract and should repay TMC for its costs in settling a wrongful-death claim with family members of the patient.
Officials at American Traveler, which is based in Florida, didn't respond to telephone messages and an e-mail seeking comment Wednesday afternoon. Attorneys for the defendants filed a notice of removal Wednesday in the U.S. District Court of Arizona requesting the case be heard in federal court.
Phoenix lawyer Ken Baker, an attorney for the defendants, said an answer to the complaint would be filed within the next week, but he couldn't comment further.
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TMC doesn't comment on pending litigation, said spokeswoman Julia Strange.
According to the complaint, the nurse, Susan Grubbs, over-administered narcotic medications to a 41-year-old woman who was admitted to TMC's medical/surgical overflow unit about 10 p.m. on Aug. 4, 2004.
Grubbs also failed to chart significant information about the patient, wrote the incorrect time and quantities for narcotics she administered and failed to inform the treating physician of significant changes in the patient's status, the complaint says.
Grubbs last saw the patient about 6 a.m. on Aug. 5, 2004, according to the complaint.
"Nurse Grubbs did not return at any point thereafter to check on the patient or evaluate the effects of the medication," the complaint says.
About 90 minutes later, a patient-care technician found the woman unresponsive and in respiratory arrest in her room, the complaint says. With medical intervention the patient's pulse was restored, but she suffered a brain injury that put her in a coma, the suit says. She never awoke, and her family removed artificial life support six days later, according to the complaint.
Earlier this year, TMC settled a wrongful-death suit with family members of the deceased patient for a confidential amount, according to the complaint. TMC is asking for its legal expenses, the amount it paid to settle the claim in the wrongful-death litigation and interest on the settlement.
TMC alleges that American Traveler negligently misrepresented Grubbs' qualifications by not properly investigating them and that TMC wouldn't have employed the nurse had the company done so.
Grubbs entered an employment agreement with American Traveler on May 6, 2004, and began her orientation at TMC June 1, the complaint says.