Suit called an ‘attempt to silence nurses, healthcare workers’

The AFT Healthcare New Jersey affiliate Health Professionals and Allied Employees (HPAE) and its president, Ann Twomey, have been sued by Bergen Regional Medical Center in Paramus, N.J., in an attempt to silence nurses who have spoken out against problems in patient care at the hospital.

“Our members have been protecting their patients while Solomon Health Group has been busy protecting its profits,” says Twomey, a member of AFT Healthcare’s program and policy council and an AFT vice president. “This lawsuit is an affront to freedom of speech, to our democratic rights as union members and to our obligation as nurses and health professionals to speak up for our patients. This lawsuit will not stop us from speaking the truth.”

In May, HPAE members testified before the state Assembly’s Judiciary Committee about the need for legislation to prevent frivolous lawsuits against citizens and groups that speak out against potentially harmful corporate policies. Such suits are called “SLAPP suits” because they are intended to intimidate and punish critics who don’t have large bank accounts.

This SLAPP, or Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, asks for injunctive relief and undisclosed compensatory and punitive damages, citing both Twomey and HPAE, which represents 400 nurses and health professionals at the hospital. BRMC claims that Twomey and HPAE interfered with its business by criticizing patient care practices and advocating that the hospital be returned to public control. The public hospital was leased to a for-profit company seven years ago.

The lawsuit names a number of actions and statements by Twomey or other union members in recent years, including testimony before a state Assembly Health Committee hearing, a 20-day strike last June, and requests by union members to have the state department of health and senior services investigate patient care complaints.

“This lawsuit tells you everything you need to know about the priorities of this company,” says Twomey. “This is all about interfering with their profits. Who else will be sued next for speaking the truth about patient care at this for-profit hospital?”