C.A. 4th;
D071094

The Fourth Appellate District affirmed trial court judgments. In the published portion of its opinion, the court held that a hospital staff's alleged retaliation against a patient due to his wife's complaints about his care did not give rise to a statutory cause of action for retaliation.

Prior to his death, Dale Brenner was a patient at a hospital operated by Universal Health Services of Rancho Springs, Inc. While he was being treated there, his wife Nancy repeatedly complained to hospital staff and administrators about the allegedly inadequate or inappropriate care her husband was receiving. Following Dale's death Nancy and her son sued the hospital, physician Young Lee, and others, asserting causes of action for wrongful death, elder abuse, and retaliation under Health & Saf. Code §1278.5. As to the latter cause of action, plaintiffs alleged that Lee and other hospital staff retaliated against Dale for Nancy's complaints.