(Iowa) One of Iowa’s largest nursing home chains is facing a lawsuit filed by a former nurse alleging a form of whistleblower retaliation.
It is the third such lawsuit that Care Initiatives of West Des Moines has faced in the past year. The company operates 44 care facilities in Iowa.
In the most recent case, Tina Weber of Clemens alleges that from May 2021 through October 2024, she worked as a registered nurse at an unspecified Care Initiatives facility in Marshall County.
The lawsuit alleges that on Oct. 5, 2024, Weber witnessed an incident involving a resident in a wheelchair with schizophrenia and a human resources worker. According to the lawsuit, the two were engaged in an argument and when the schizophrenic resident attempted to leave in his wheelchair, the human resources worker grabbed the handles of the wheelchair, causing the resident to fall out of the wheelchair to the ground.
Weber reported the incident to the assistant director of nursing and recorded the incident in the resident’s chart. The next day, Weber alleges, the home’s director of nursing texted Weber, writing, “Could you strike out original note and when putting in about the wheelchair say she was assisting with the wheelchair and he put himself on the ground as she tried to de-escalate him and explain that he was not allow to smoke and the policy?”
Weber allegedly responded, “So not the truth?”
On Oct. 11, 2024, an administrator allegedly asked Weber to change her account of the incident in the resident’s chart. Weber refused. Later that same day, the lawsuit alleges, a corporate employee of Care Initiatives instructed Weber to change the resident’s chart so it didn’t indicate the resident’s fall was the result of an altercation with the staff. Weber again refused and, the lawsuit claims, she then reported the incident to state regulators who forwarded it to the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing, which oversees nursing homes.
Five days later, a state inspector visited the nursing home to investigate the matter, the lawsuit alleges. The next day, the lawsuit alleges, Care Initiatives fired Weber.
The lawsuit claims the company fired Weber due to her reports and complaints regarding the health, safety, and well-being of one of its residents. The lawsuit seeks unspecified actual and punitive damages for Weber’s firing.
Care Initiatives has yet to file a response to the lawsuit. The company did not respond to calls this week from the Iowa Capital Dispatch.
Two other lawsuits allege retaliation
Over the past year, Care Initiatives has been the target of two other lawsuits alleging a form of whistleblower retaliation.
Kandus Jellison, who worked at the chain’s Oakwood Specialty Care in Albia, has alleged she was fired in June 2022 after she intervened on behalf of a resident who was refused hospital care and then helped the man call 911.
Jellison sued Care Initiatives in part for violating the Iowa law that bars employers from taking action against workers for reporting dependent adult abuse or assisting with an abuse-related complaint or investigation.
Care Initiatives argued that while it’s a crime for a company to retaliate against workers who assist with abuse investigations, the Iowa Legislature didn’t intend for workers to use such a violation as the basis for a civil lawsuit. A judge agreed and dismissed one element of the lawsuit, but let the remainder of the case proceed. Care Initiatives has denied any wrongdoing. A trial is scheduled for March 30, 2026.
In May 2024, Stephanie Schlegelmilch sued Care Initiatives, alleging that while working as the director of nursing for the chain’s Avoca Specialty Care she was terminated in violation of public policy. She alleged that she was fired shortly after she confronted a regional nurse for Care Initiatives and questioned why she wasn’t wearing a mask during a COVID-19 outbreak in the home.
As part of her lawsuit, she also alleged she had several “tense conversations” with management about the company’s alleged practice of admitting new residents to the home even when it was not adequately staffed to provide a safe environment for residents. Care Initiatives denied any wrongdoing.
According to court filings by attorneys for both sides in that case, the lawsuit was resolved in December 2024 with an out-of-court settlement.
