2 former Saint Luke's employees allege retaliation in lawsuit

Two former Saint Luke's employees allege in a lawsuit they were pushed out from their jobs after bringing up concerns with the way the hospital sterilized its surgical equipment.

Elizabeth Bell and a woman listed as S.A. Herrera brought the lawsuit against the hospital.

The lawsuit lists the hospital, a current staff members, and a former staff member.

Bell was the manager of the sterile processing department at St. Luke's and was hired in September 2022.

Allegations from Bell

In the lawsuit, Bell said that she immediately began to notice red flags with how the hospital allegedly sterilized its equipment.

Bell alleges the hospital's sterile processing practices "failed to follow Missouri state law and regulations governing infection control and employee and patient safety in health care facilities."

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She also claims the hospital didn't follow Point of Use (POU) cleaning protocols, a practice used to clean surgical instruments during and after a procedure.

POU protocols are meant to prevent the "build up and calcification of biological debris such as flesh, blood, and feces," according to the lawsuit.

Bell also claims the hospital didn't properly transport contaminated and biohazardous surgical equipment.

She alleges surgical technicians would transport instruments covered in blood, feces and other biological debris with cleaning the equipment.

Bell also says staff didn't follow Instructions for Use (IFUs), instructions on how to sterilize specific equipment.

She also alleges that the hospital didn't have the proper equipment to store organs.

Bell claims the hospital would store organs restaurant-grade slushie machines in place of machines called "hush slush."

The machines are used to cool tissue to induce regional hypothermia and keep organs cold outside the human body.

"Saint Luke’s used a restaurant grade slushie machine — like the ones at movie theaters or gas stations — as a hush slush machine. But because Saint Luke’s’ slushie machines were not intended for surgical use, they required that someone stir the slush mixture (sometimes with an organ inside) using a big, metal, restaurant-grade spoon," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit lists dozens of other allegations with how Bell claims the hospital handled its sterilization procedures.

Bell states in the lawsuit that she tried to turn things around at St. Luke's but was retaliated against when she did.

In one instance, according to the lawsuit, Bell was called into a room where a doctor was operating on a patient.

The doctor asked for equipment, and when Bell stated she had never heard of it, he yelled at her and told Bell to get out of the room.

Bell also claims she was berated by another doctor when she wouldn't release equipment for use because it wasn't properly cooled down for use.

"Saint Luke’s and its surgical teams consistently abused Ms. Bell and tried to intimidate her to throw aside sterile processing protocols. The surgeons would swear and yell at Ms. Bell. Other surgeons also called Ms. Bell stupid and questioned her education," the lawsuit states.

In June 2023, the lawsuit alleges Bell was approached by a staff member who said there has been an increase in patient returning due to suffering various surgical site infections.

SSI's are infections that "occur in the body of a patient at or around the site of surgical incision," according to the lawsuit.

S.A. Herrera's allegations

According to the lawsuit, Bell continued to try to implement proper POU protocols, but continued to receive push back from surgeons and other surgical team members.

Bell said she reported the treatment to several leadership members, supervisors and human resource staff, but her concerns were shrugged off,

Surgical team members continued to be hostile toward members of the sterile processing department, and Herrera alleges it even turned physical.

In April 2023, Herrera alleges in the lawsuit that a surgeon tech shoved her in the hallway and caused her to fall backward against a wall.

Herrera also listed another instance in which she was berated by a surgeon tech for not passing her equipment because it didn't go through POU protocols.

In August 2023, a director told Herrera to complete a review and audit of the competencies and training for sterile processing technicians.

Before Bell worked there, St. Luke's didn't conduct these tests, something Herrera reported to the director.

Herrera said there was at least 15 technicians who lacked records for the tests.

The director allegedly told Herrera to forge the records and when she refused, the director allegedly threatened her.

She was later told again via email to forge them but she refused.

Herrera was later demoted in September and not long after Herrera resigned.

"Saint Luke’s deliberately rendered the intolerable working conditions in order to force Ms. Herrera’s resignation," the lawsuit states. "Any reasonable person in Ms. Herrera’s position would have done the same and not been able to withstand the conditions that Saint Luke’s put Ms. Herrera through. In fact, Saint Luke’s and its intolerable working conditions forced at least one of Ms. Herrera’s colleagues to resign."

Bell terminated by St. Luke's

According to the lawsuit, Bell recorded a doctor who allegedly berated her on two occasions.

When she took the recording to a supervisor and higher ups, Bell was disciplined and told she violated company policy by recording him.

Bell also had reported a lead in the sterling process department during this time.

When she want to human resources about the issues, Bell was instead confronted on why she had recorded the doctor, according to the lawsuit.

Bell was later placed on administrative and later fired.

St. Luke's responds to allegations

KSHB 41 reached out to St. Luke's for comment on the matter.

Below is a statement:

Since these claims originally surfaced, we have vigorously defended our sterile processing standards. While we will not comment on pending litigation, Saint Luke’s sterile processing team adheres to and follows the standards set by the nation’s most reputable governing organizations including the Association of Operating Room Nurses and the Healthcare Sterile Processing Association, the Association of Operating Room Nurses, The Joint Commission (TJC), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service (CMS), and Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI).

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