Faulkner

BACKGROUND

15 Plaintiff Bethan Faulkner, a Registered Nurse with a Doctor in Nursing Practice, was employed for nearly ten years by defendant Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford (“LPCH”). She was employed first as a neonatal clinical specialist, then – beginning December 2018 – as the interim patient care manager of the neonatal intensive care unit (“NICU”), and finally – beginning June 2019 – as the patient care manager of the NICU. In her role as patient care manager (“PCM”), plaintiff supervised more than 150 nurses. Defendant terminated her employment on November 11, 2020. Plaintiff then filed suit in federal court. Dkt. No. 1. Following this Court’s order on summary judgment, see Dkt. No. 65, plaintiff had two claims remaining in this case: wrongful discharge in violation of public policy; and violation of California’s medical whistleblower statute, Health and Safety Code section 1278.5. Plaintiff’s wrongful discharge claim was anchored in the public policy articulated in Health and Safety Code section 1278.5. See Dkt. No. 17 (“Am. Compl.”) ¶ 96. In preparation for…