Fired Sacred Heart nurses file grievance in case regarding suicide of 12-year-old girl

Fifteen nurses at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center have been fired after hospital administrators claim they improperly accessed the private medical records of a 12-year-old girl who died by suicide in April.

The nurses allege they are being retaliated against for speaking with the media after the death of Sarah Niyimbona. They have filed a grievance against Providence through the Washington State Nurses Association, their union.

Beginning in late 2024, Sarah was repeatedly admitted to Sacred Heart’s emergency department because of multiple attempts to end her own life. On the night of April 13, Sarah left her room in the Sacred Heart Children’s Hospital alone and died after jumping off a parking garage. Her death has raised questions about how she was allowed to leave her hospital room unnoticed and the gaps within health care for children with severe suicidal ideation.

According to Providence, any action taken against these employees was to protect the privacy of their patients.

“Providence takes violations of our code of conduct and federal privacy laws that govern private health information very seriously. We review employee conduct and take appropriate action, including termination of employment, where warranted. Patient privacy is one of our top priorities,” Providence wrote in the statement provided by spokesperson Jen York.

Each termination was for “patient privacy violations,” she added.

HIPAA is a federal law that limits who can look at, receive or share private health information. At issue in this case is whether the nurses in question improperly accessed Sarah’s health records after her death for no medical purpose.

According to the Washington State Nurse Association, the concern for patient privacy comes after nurses may have accessed Sarah’s medical records following her death. These instances may have only included “hovering” over the girl’s chart from “concerned nurses who worked with that patient,” said WSNA spokesperson Bobbi Nodell.

“In less than two months, Providence Sacred Heart fired 15 nurses over allegations of HIPAA violations following the suicide of a 12-year-old patient at the hospital. Another one was disciplined. The union was contacted by these nurses and has filed grievances over the terminations and disciplinary action, arguing that any information accessed pertained directly to the nurses’ duties responding to this crisis,” said WSNA director David Keepnews in a statement.

The union believes the privacy guaranteed under HIPAA are of the utmost seriousness, but that in crisis situations nurses outside of the Emergency Department are often “called in to assist with care and provide information related to a patient’s treatment,” he added.

“We reject Providence Sacred Heart’s claims that privacy was violated by nurses who were doing their jobs to assist in efforts to save the life of a 12-year-old girl in the hospital’s care,” Keepnews said.

The union and nurses maintain that this alleged breach of privacy was not why they were fired. Instead, they said the nurses were retaliated against for speaking with media outlets about Sarah’s case.

“We think this was done in retaliation for the stories that were written,” Nodell said.

An audit of those who accessed Sarah’s medical records took place after the first story on the girl’s suicide was published by InvestigateWest, according to Nodell. The nurses, who were quoted anonymously in those reports, were then asked in closed-door meetings whether they had spoken to media and later fired.

The union said the fired nurses declined to be interviewed or identified for this story.

Asked whether what the nurses did violated HIPAA, Nodell said that would ultimately be decided by an internal grievance process on whether the nurses were improperly fired.

“Our nurse rep believes these nurses didn’t do anything wrong, but whether that’s a HIPAA violation, I don’t know,” Nodell said.

A grievance has been filed by the nurses and “could take a long time” to be resolved, Nodell added.

There continues to be an ongoing state Department of Health investigation into Sarah’s death, and the girl’s family has sued Providence.