Ascension Health Hit With $2 Million Defamation Judgement

Ascension Seton hospital in 2023 (Photo by John Anderson)

Ascension’s court troubles continue. Last Wednesday, July 16, 3rd Court of Appeals Judge Karin Crump ruled that the Resource Group, a subsidiary of Ascension Health, defamed medical device vendor representative Kimberly Goodman.

Goodman often worked within Ascension Seton and Dell Children’s Hospital, and the jury found that during 2020 and 2021, the Resource Group “published false, harmful statements about her about things she never did, and wrongly banned her from all Ascension facilities nationwide as a result, causing her significant damages,” Goodman’s lawyers wrote in a press release last week. All statements made by the Resource Group were found to be false in a 10-2 decision – they’ll have to pay Goodman $2,038,000 in damages, plus an extra $151,422 in interest.

“This judgment sends a message: treat people with respect, and independently investigate accusations or face significant consequences,” said employment attorney Austin Kaplan of Kaplan Law in a press release. “People are wrongfully accused at work and few take action, but here one brave person stood up to falsehoods – and the jury stood with her.”

The saga began on June 10, 2021, when Goodman received notice from the Resource Group that she would be permanently banned from all Ascension facilities nationwide due to alleged “unprofessional behavior.”

In court documents, the Resource Group claimed that in October of 2020 Goodman was in an operating room at Seton hospital without good reason, and said she “exhibited unprofessional behavior” toward a staff member who felt “in immediate danger.”

On April 8, 2021, during an investigation of that incident, they alleged that Goodman again made unprofessional comments about another staff member. Together, these incidents “violated Ascension’s Vendor Access Policy” and allegedly justified Goodman’s permanent ban. The lawsuit documents estimate that Goodman lost a total of $64,000 in wages due to the ban, and is projected to lose $424,000 in earning capacity in the future due to reputational damages.

This is just the latest in a long string of troubles for Ascension – in the last few years, the health care giant has seen a New York Times exposé on its understaffing crisis, a tense union battle with its nurses at Ascension Seton, and breakdowns in its partnerships with Blue Cross Blue Shield and its Travis County’s hospital district, Central Health.

Kaplan Law’s Matthew Caponi said in the press release, “While this result can’t undo the disruption to her life and career, it does vindicate her and is a crucial step toward repairing her reputation and putting this incident behind her.”