Nurse Andrea Morris nearly lost her life at work. Her catastrophic medical emergency left her quadriplegic, but City of Hope denied her claim for workers comp benefits until now. The California Court of Appeal denied the hospital’s petition, and it appears the hospital will abide by the appellate court decision.
It was during the first wave of the Covid pandemic when Andrea Morris’ life changed forever.
She was working at the City of Hope Cancer Infusion Center in Upland when she told her supervisor she felt ill.
Within minutes, the athletic, active mother of 3 collapsed from sudden cardiac arrest. Her supervisor, who is also a nurse, recorded her emergency on her phone and called 911, mistakenly describing her cardiac arrest as a seizure. None of the doctors or nurses present performed CPR for more than 7 minutes.
The lack of oxygen to her brain resulted in quadriplegia. Morris’ condition requires round—the-clock care. Without workers comp benefits, she was forced to sell her home, liquidate her 401K and move in with her elderly parents.
This winter, both her parents died within weeks of each other. It was an emotionally painful loss for Morris, and one with financial implications.
24/7 caregiving costs are now close to $300,000 a year according to Morris’ legal conservator and sister, Pam Bertino.
“I am at the point where I’m going into my own retirement money just to pay for caregivers and medical expenses,” said Bertino.
For five years, City of Hope maintained her injury was not workplace related.
But Morris’s attorneys point out the law requires they only needed to prove a 1% ink between the job and her sudden cardiac arrest and note City of Hope’s posted job description even before the pandemic stated “employee will work under stressful conditions.”
“That stress, and all we need is 1%, created and caused the sudden cardiac arrest, and two doctors said the same thing,” Morris’ attorney Keith More said.
Those two independent doctors assessed Morris as part of the workers comp trial
In October, 2024 the trial judge ruled in Morris’ favor.
City of Hope appealed in November to the workers’ comp Board of Appeal; in December the Board upheld the judge’s decision.
City of Hope again appealed, but on May 31, the California Court of Appeal, 4th District denied their petition for review.
On June 4th, City of Hope’s Chief Communications Officer Nisha Morris issued this statement:
“As a valued colleague at City of Hope, we continue to empathize with Ms. Morris’s situation. City of Hope will administer benefits to Ms. Morris in accordance with the decision.”
City of Hope did have one last avenue of appeal: the state Supreme Court.
“Theoretically, if there’s an egregious error by the Court of Appeal, the California Supreme Court could get involved, but almost never does that happen,” said legal analyst Royal Oakes, who is not involved in this case.
And while City of Hope has said it does not plan to appeal to the high court, they have until Monday, June 9th to do so.
For now, it appears the family’s 5 year battle for benefits is finally ending. They say they are hopeful this marks a new beginning for the care she’s been lacking.
“She has not had significant speech therapy or occupational therapy or physical therapy now for about three years,” said Bertino. The hospital providing that specialized care, Casa Colina has a lien of more than half a million dollars against City of Hope for the treatment Morris has already received.
“You see her arm, the contracture, that could be worked on,” said More, referencing Morris’ paralyzed wrists and hands which are unable to hold or maneuver even a straw. “We know that there are surgeries.”
“It’s what we’ve dreamed of,” Bertino said. “That one day she may be able to use her hand, to take sip of water on her own, maybe even maneuver her own wheelchair.”
During the past five years, the family has rallied around Morris. They say the generosity of friends and strangers who donated to Morris’ GoFundMe kept them afloat when money was running low. They say they are hopeful their legal fight is over, but as of June 4th, Morris’ attorney had not received confirmation that City of Hope will abide by the appellate court decision.
“I would love to get an apology from City of Hope for dragging this out so long,” said Bertino.
Source: NBC Los Angeles