Lawsuits involving the Overton County Nursing Home are really starting to add up. This is the third suit involving the facility that the Livingston Enterprise has learned of within the last week.

This lawsuit, filed November 27 in the U.S. District Court for Middle Tennessee, not only names Overton County Nursing Home Administrator Jennifer Bouldin, both individually and in her capacity as administrator for the Overton County Nursing Home; but it also names Overton County Commissioner Donna Savage in her capacity as chairman of the nursing home board of directors as a plaintiff. The suit is asking for $500,000 in compensatory damages and $500,000 in punitive damages.

Two lawsuits against the nursing home administrator, the facility and the county were recently filed in Overton County Circuit Court. The latest lawsuit is filed by one of the same plaintiffs in those suits–Christopher Dale Norris, a former employee of the facility who worked as a registered nurse and MDS coordinator.

The suit alleges that his rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution and Tennessee Constitution were violated.

Attorney Cynthia Wilson out of Cookeville is representing Norris in the litigation. Wilson also represents him in another court case pending in Overton County Circuit Court filed against the nursing home facility and the county.

Norris alleges that even though he was terminated from the facility on December 15 of last year with his termination notice stating for, “Violation of HIPPA policy,” that he was actually fired from the facility because he talked to an auditor from the state of Tennessee Department of Health concerning allegations of abuse and neglect of a nursing home resident. The suit alleges Bouldin conspired to cover-up alleged acts by ordering an employee to alter patient documentation.

The suit asserts that Norris was fired back in December of 2012 as a retaliatory measure for exercising his freedom of speech to the state department of health worker. The suit alleges that at no time did the board of directors undertake any investigation into the validity of Norris’ complaints or launch an investigation into his termination. Additionally, the lawsuit alleges that the Overton County Nursing Home did not have an appeal procedure in place at the time, that an employee, such as the plaintiff, could use if the administrator had terminated an employee.

The suit states that as a public employee and prior to his termination, Norris was entitled to one oral and/or written notice of the charges against him; an explanation of Overton County Nursing Home’s evidence in support of such charges; and an opportunity to present a defense to such charges before an impartial tribunal.

The lawsuit alleges that Norris was denied procedural due process, that he was not provided a pre-deprivation hearing; not terminated in compliance with applicable state law and not made aware of with proper notice of the charges leading to his termination.

The Livingston Enterprise called but was unable to make contact with Bouldin or Savage for comment on the lawsuits.

County Executive Ron Cyrus was also contacted for comment about the litigation but he said, under the advisement of Lillie Ann Sells, the county attorney, he could not speak about the lawsuit.

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(Editor’s Note: Reprinted from the December 16 edition of the Herald-Citizen)

He was there with his wife who was delivering a child by c-section, but police say Edward Louis Randolph, 37, of Livingston, tried to take medications from the labor room with him.

According to a report taken by Officer Ethan Ross, a nurse at Cookeville Regional Medical Center told him that she had left a box of various medications in the labor room and came back about 15 minutes later to find Randolph “rifling through the box.”

“When she asked him what he was doing he said, ‘Nothing, I was just seeing what was in there,’” the report states.

A pharmacy technician checked the box and found five vials of medication were missing, according to the report.

Hospital security stopped Randolph in the hallway and “told him to turn out his pockets, at which point he attempted to casually hide three packaged needles, which were stored in drawers in the hospital room,” the report states.

During a police interview, Randolph reportedly told officers where he had hidden all but one of the medicine vials.

“Mr. Randolph had hidden the vials in his wife’s shoe and a camera case in the hospital room after (the nurse) had taken the box from the room,” the report states.

A search of Randolph also uncovered a bag full of needles and syringes which officers concluded were also from the hospital, the report states. The fifth bottle of medication was also found in Randolph’s pocket.

Randolph was arrested and charged with theft of property and possession of a controlled substance with a total bond of $6,000.