Whistleblower: Court Permits Nurse’s Whistleblower Claims Alleging False Claims and Retaliation

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California found a nurse’s allegations of false claims and retaliation against her former employer, a hospital, sufficient to state a whistleblower claim under the federal False Claims Act (FCA) and the California False Claims Act. The allegations also implicated an affiliated community health foundation and two hospital-affiliated physicians who directed the hospital’s hematology/oncology center.

The relator, a former clinical nursing director at the defendant hospital, alleged false claims related to lack of physician oversight, double billing for drugs in single-dose vials, allowing single-dose drugs to expire and become contaminated, and billing physician time for blood transfusions that never occurred. The defendants moved for dismissal of all claims; however, the court repeatedly found that the...