Woman’s Suit Accuses Shriners Of Gross Irony

The Spokane Shriners Hospital is an undisputed house of good deeds, offering hope and free medical miracles to kids with life-altering disabilities.

Which makes the dirty deed done to Barbara Trimble all the more astonishing.

After 18 years of loyal labor, the former radiology manager was coldly canned in 1995 during a five-minute meeting.

You won’t believe why.

Neck injuries she suffered after being struck by a car at a work-related conference left her unable to do all of the lifting required to give X-rays.

Though a celebrated haven of compassion for the disabled, the hospital made no effort to modify Trimble’s duties, reassign her or work something out to keep her on.

“I was shocked. I had no idea in the world it was coming,” says Trimble, 48, whose disability discrimination lawsuit against the hospital is scheduled for trial next month in U.S. District Court. “I had done nothing wrong. I was ready to go back to work.”

During the fateful meeting, Trimble says her boss, hospital administrator Chuck Young, abruptly stood, extended his hand and told her:

“You know where we are, come visit us sometime.”

Trimble describes the moment as one of the bleakest of her life. “All I could to do is sit there,” she adds. “I was determined not to cry, but I did.”

Young unfortunately won’t tell his side of the story, citing his responsibility to keep personnel matters private. He maintains the hospital’s innocence, however, and predicts a courtroom victory.

Young called the Shriners Hospitals “a wonderful organization” that strives to “care for our patients and treat all our staff with fairness and compassion.”

Tell it to Trimble.

Hospital lawyers claim in court documents that employers do not discriminate by “denying a job to a handicapped person who is unqualified to perform it.”

It is unreasonable, they argue, to expect an employer to accommodate a handicapped person by creating a new light-duty job or asking co-workers to carry some of the handicapped person’s load.

Maybe all that has some legal merit in the cruel corporate world. But it flies in the face of the philanthropic Shriners Hospitals, which adhere to the highest standards of good Samaritanism.

The hospitals are celebrating their 75th anniversary. Spokane’s hospital is one of the oldest, dating to 1924.

A nasty lawsuit like Trimble’s is about the last thing this public relations-conscious outfit needs.

The fired woman is quick to praise the organization. Her son, Brad, was born with a serious birth defect and received blessed care at the Spokane hospital.

A single mom, she worked her way up the hard way - from a part-time employee to managing a department. Her work record, she says, was never unsatisfactory.

Trimble was unlucky at a Las Vegas conference when she was knocked down by a car while walking in a crosswalk on July 30, 1994. Her injuries at first appeared minor, but shooting pains in her neck and upper right arm eventually became unbearable.

Surgery later that year helped. Trimble’s doctor released her back to work on light duty for two months. But the hospital, according to her complaint, responded with an ultimatum:

Return to full activities without any restrictions or be fired and go on permanent disability benefits.

Termination came on March 28, 1995. It was 18 years to the day of when Trimble began working at the hospital.

She is now attending college in Oklahoma to get a degree she hopes will let her start over.

“The irony here is acute,” says her attorney, Ken Isserlis.

“None of this, of course, diminishes the fact that they do great work for zillions of kids. It only makes what happened to Barbara harder to understand.

“We really expect better of them.”

, DataTimes