In suit, nurse says hospital retaliated
Kindred Hospital is accused of firing an ICU nurse in retaliation for reporting patient safety concerns to authorities, according to a civil lawsuit filed this week in state District Court in Bexar County.
Kindred Healthcare, which is a limited partnership owned by a company based in Louisville, Ky., has not yet responded to the lawsuit involving one of the company’s two San Antonio locations.
In the suit, registered nurse Sean Kinnie alleges that the hospital suspended him twice and ultimately fired him after learning he had made the reports about patient safety at the company’s 59-bed transitional care hospital at 3636 Medical Drive. The freestanding facility treats chronically, critically ill patients.
He first raised concerns about patient safety in November in an
restaurant or limited-use shopping center, which is why the hard corner of I-35 and the multilane thoroughfare of Walters Avenue is a critical location.”
But area residents are concerned about what kinds of businesses could end up at the corner. They’re also dismayed over plans to demolish multiple houses on the properties. Some sought a compromise — a less-intense zoning designation.
Signs peppering yards and fences in the neighborhood proclaim “No C-2 commercial rezoning, neighbors for residential development only” and “Don’t kill Gov’t Hill.”
“Our neighborhood is fragile and deserves protecting,” D’ette Cole, who lives near the properties, told council members. “We’re a predominantly Hispanic, multigenerational, old-school San Antonio
neighborhood, where neighbors look out for each other. Our homes are modest, well-loved, and we are extremely houseproud.”
The rezoning proposals are for
“speculative real estate deals that are working to sell out a chunk of our neighborhood to the highest bidder,” Cole said.
Other residents and the Government Hill Alliance Neighborhood
Association support the changes.
“This land has been underdeveloped for over 30 years,” said Rose Hill, who leads the association. “We urgently need economic development.”
One of the neighbors’ worries was that a gas station would be built at the site.
Robert Wynn of Frost Bank, the trustee appointed under Cloma Jackson’s will, told council members Thursday that the trust submitted an affidavit pledging to include a deed restriction barring the construction of a gas station.
That is “a win for us all,” District 2 Councilwoman Jada Andrewssullivan said. The C-2NA designation “makes sure our residents have all of the needs that they need met along with making sure our city and District 2 have full commercial use and productive commercial use.”
For months, rezoning and plan amendment proposals for the properties have wound through the city’s Zoning and Planning
commissions, which make recommendations to the City Council for a final decision.
In January, amid opposition from neighbors, the Zoning Commission shot down a proposal for a Quiktrip gas station and convenience store there. The panel again recommended denying zoning changes in July, when the possibility of placing a Starbucks coffee shop at the site surfaced.
At the July meeting, Badders said Martinez was “of an age now where she cannot be a landlord anymore” and that the houses would be demolished regardless of what happened with the rezoning.
The Planning Commission suggested approving the trust’s land use change, which the council greenlighted Thursday. But earlier this month, commissioners recommended denying Martinez’s request to change the designation of her property, suggesting “lowdensity mixed use” instead.