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No. 24975: Ohio Valley Medical Center, Inc., v. Cathy S.
Gatson, Clerk of Kanawha
County; The Board of Review of the West
Virginia Department of
Employment Security; Phyllis H. Carter,
Chairman; Harold E. Starr and
Susan W. Hastings, Members; and Mary K.
Bleifus
McCuskey, Justice, dissenting:
Judges can be reasonable people and reasonable people can
disagree. That being said, it is difficult to understand how, after examining the conduct
of the appellant, a registered nurse, the majority could reasonably conclude that her
life-threatening errors did not constitute gross misconduct justifying her termination.
After making five separate patient medication errors in a short period of time, the
appellant was warned and suspended by the hospital that employed her. This rather lenient
discipline failed to reform her behavior and she subsequently committed a number of
similar errors, including failing to administer intervenous antibiotics to a
post-operative surgical patient. Only then was she terminated. Would this Court be as
sympathetic to the hospital if it had not discharged this employee and were then sued by
the loved ones of a patient who died as a result of her misconduct?
Based on the foregoing, I dissent from
the majority's opinion. I am authorized to state that Justice Maynard joins me in this
dissent.