BERGEN HOSPITAL ACCUSED OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

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A former employee at Bergen Regional Medical Center in Paramus has filed a whistle-blower lawsuit against the hospital, claiming he was fired after he complained that minorities were discriminated against when they sought treatment at the facility for substance abuse.

The lawsuit alleges that many minority patients who came to the hospital by bus from Newark after midnight were turned away and advised to return later in the day. Meanwhile, the rule against admitting walk-ins so late was relaxed for whites, the lawsuit claims.

Joel Ramirez, 32, who worked as a medical assistant from July 2013 to July 2015, claimed in his lawsuit that an African-American man was rejected for detox treatment because he was in a wheelchair, even though the man could have been treated in other parts of the hospital.

A nurse “went so far as to order Mr. Ramirez to make sure that the patient did not make it to the detox unit because if he made it there, they could not make him leave,” the lawsuit claims.

Additionally, the lawsuit claims that a supervisor denied someone admission to the unit because the person did not speak English. It alleges that minority employees were discriminated against as well.

“Mr. Ramirez complained to his supervisors and higher officials at the hospital about discrimination in the workplace and in the treatment of patients, particularly in the detox unit, in order to improve patient care,” said his lawyer, Justin D. Santagata.

“Instead of making an effort to address the unequal treatment of employees and patients, the hospital simply terminated him,” said Santagata, whose office is in Fort Lee.

A hospital spokeswoman was unavailable for comment Tuesday evening.

The 1,085-bed hospital provides nursing home care and psychiatric and addiction treatment. Last year, it treated 11,816 patients.

There were 13,579 emergency visits and 30,532 outpatient visits. Last year, the hospital added 10 beds to address an alarming increase in the number of people addicted to heroin and prescription pain relievers.

Still, there is up to a four-day wait for treatment. About 70 percent of the detox patients come from counties other than Bergen, hospital records show.

The lawsuit details a system in which buses would arrive at the hospital once a week from several private institutions in Newark with patients who needed treatment for substance abuse or addiction.

As a medical assistant, Ramirez was responsible for controlling potentially unruly patients, checking vital signs, drawing blood, conducting searches of incoming patients and escorting patients from the bus into the unit, the lawsuit says.

Ramirez’s immediate supervisor, who is white, was responsible for determining when and how patients were admitted to the detox unit, according to the lawsuit. She was under a mandate “to fill the beds,” but she “often applied the rules for admittance more strictly to minorities than Caucasians,” the lawsuit claims.

On at least one occasion, the supervisor and another employee said in the presence of at least one nurse “[w]e gotta stop these people from coming here,” the lawsuit claims. The lawsuit also alleges that Ramirez complained to supervisors, including the chief nurse executive, “about the unequal treatment of minority and Caucasian patients,” but that nothing changed.

Additionally, the lawsuit alleges racial and ethnic discrimination among employees. Ramirez was disciplined for speaking Spanish in the unit, even when no patients were present, the lawsuit alleges. And the lawsuit claims minority nurses were not given what is know as “charge nurse training” so they could supervise shifts. Only Caucasian nurses are assigned as charge nurses, according to the lawsuit.

Ramirez was fired for purported lateness and for using a hospital computer for non-work purposes, even though Ramirez said he was granted permission and the use of the computer had ceased several months before his termination, the lawsuit claims.

Bergen County officials are weighing the fate of the former Bergen Pines hospital, operated by a Colorado-based company, Bergen Regional Medical Center LP.

A 19-year contract between the hospital’s operators and the Bergen County Improvement Authority is set to expire in 2017. A decision is expected this summer.

Email: layton@northjersey.com

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