Margaret "Peg" O’Connor, a nurse who worked at Jordan Hospital in Plymouth for more than 38 years, said she was fired in May for doing the right thing. She reported a violation by the hospital that allegedly put a pregnant patient and her unborn twins at risk. O’Connor, who filed a lawsuit yesterday, had told federal authorities that the woman, who was six months pregnant when she arrived in the Jordan emergency room in March with flulike systems and went into labor, was transferred to another hospital without being examined by a doctor. A state Department of Public Health inspector found in May that the hospital violated a federal law that prohibits hospitals from transferring patients without making sure they are stable and have been examined by a physician. The inspector found four additional violations by the hospital involving patient transfers, exposing the hospital to possible fines of up to $50,000 for each violation. On May 19, the day the Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services dispatched a team of inspectors to Jordan Hospital to conduct a broader review, O’Connor was fired.
