In the ongoing $25 million trial of Charlesetta Woodard-Thompson, the former interim CEO of Erlanger Hospital, the plaintiff testified on Wednesday that she was retroactively terminated in July of 2013, leading to an unplanned and unjust loss of health care.
Ms. Woodard-Thompson sued Erlanger that month for what she saw as wrongful termination and demanded reparation for retaliatory damages, invasion of privacy, and conspiracy.
Erlanger has dismissed these accusations as patently false.
In addition, she said the alleged improper loss of health care was costly and frustrating. Ms. Woodard-Thompson was on medical leave when her position was terminated and said she had to cancel all appointments and treatment when she received notice of the hospital’s actions.
She said, “I had to cancel everything because I didn’t know what was going on. It was a shock.”
Eventually, she did adopt an insurance plan through Erlanger called COBRA, but she claimed that it was significantly more expensive than her previous plan—$500 a month instead of the $60 she was paying before.
In an email to Gregg Gentry, Erlanger’s chief administrative officer, she said, “you terminated my employment retroactively and did not honor our agreement regarding sick leave and salary continuation pay.
The plaintiff also alleged that the administration was wrong in their repeated claims that she had told them about a plan to retire that summer. She testified that she still planned to work for several more years and even do consulting work after her time there.
Speaking to her situation at Erlanger, Ms. Woodard-Thompson said, “In 50 years of work, I never had any problems with anyone I worked with. I’ve been able to get along with all kinds of people on the job.”
The trial by jury is expected to go on for several weeks.