A former Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center registered nurse is suing the facility, alleging she was forced to resign earlier this year because of constant harassment related to requests for accommodations for seizures, one that occurred at work and another that left her in a coma.
Sally Jaisun Chang also alleges that her manager told co-workers the plaintiff was an “addict” and “suicidal” after the second seizure. Chang’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges harassment, failure to prevent harassment, disability discrimination, retaliation, failure to prevent discrimination and harassment, defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Chang seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
A hospital representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit brought Friday.
Chang was hired in March 2022 and was responsible for patient care and medical charting. She suffered a seizure at work last August and only the intervention of a colleague kept her from hitting her head on the floor, she said. The co-worker also got Chang medical assistance.
That same month, Chang’s doctor put her on a medical leave and that was subsequently approved by human resources at Hollywood Presbyterian, the suit states.
In September, Chang had another seizure and she was hospitalized and placed in a coma, the suit states. When she came out of the coma, she found that her manager had sent a text message to her co-workers alleging that the plaintiff was “an addict, was suicidal, had been intubated and was not expected to survive,” the suit states.
The text information was false and Chang denied what the manager said, according to the suit. In addition, Chang had not given the manager permission to disclose any of her personal medical information to other employees and his alleged remarks significantly damaged her reputation while also changing the way her co-workers interacted with her, the suit further states.
Later in September, the manager contacted Chang and told her not to return to work because she was going to be terminated because of her hospitalization, according to the suit, which further states that the manager subsequently visited the plaintiff in the hospital, told her the hospital was not going to keep her on staff and then said, “You should just quit.”
Chang continued to inform human resources about her medical leave status until May, when she resigned out of frustration with the way she perceived she was being treated, according to her suit.
Chang has been left “embarrassed, ashamed, emotionally hurt and in financial desperation” since being forced to leave her job, the suit states.