A Maricopa County jury awarded a former Planned Parenthood Arizona employee $3 million after she claimed she was wrongfully terminated when she alerted supervisors to unsafe medical practices.

Mayra Rodriguez in her lawsuit alleged she was fired after being falsely accused of having narcotics inside her desk. She said the allegation came after she made a series of complaints, including that one doctor's abortion patients experienced an unusual number of complications.

Rodriguez's attorney, Tim Casey, told The Arizona Republic that the jury found Rodriguez was doing her job by reporting her concerns.

"It vindicated what she found and it ought to help our community be safer," Casey said.

Planned Parenthood Arizona president Bryan Howard said the organization was disappointed in the case's outcome.

"We believe the evidence was compelling that it was our former employee’s failure to follow organization rules and procedures, which are designed to protect both patients and the public, that led to her dismissal," Howard said in a statement. "The amount of damages awarded runs strongly contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence."

Rodriguez is now involved with And Then There Were None, a nonprofit that helps abortion workers leave the industry, according at news release from the group.

Complaints against doctors

Rodriguez was fired from Planned Parenthood Arizona in 2017 after working for clinics across the state for more than 15 years. At the time, she was an administrator for the Glendale and northeast Phoenix locations.

About two months before she was fired, Rodriguez made several complaints against doctors and questioned business practices.

In August 2017, according to her lawsuit, Rodriguez noticed a trend of reports concerning patients who had complications after abortion procedures, and experienced bleeding and cramps. She noticed the patients were treated by the same doctor.

"Ms. Rodriguez was concerned about the substantial health, welfare, and safety risks to these patients, as well as the substantial risk to the health, safety, and welfare of the inevitable future of PPA patients," the lawsuit stated.

According to court records, Rodriguez did not report her concerns to the doctor's immediate supervisor because the supervisor was friends with the doctor. Rodriguez reported her concerns to a lead clinician and was told upper management was aware of the doctor's actions and her concerns would be addressed, according to the lawsuit.

During another occasion, Rodriguez claimed in the lawsuit, she was approached by five medical assistants who complained about working with the doctor during procedures. According to the lawsuit, the doctor was requiring them before the procedure to sign an affidavit stating the proper things were removed after the surgery was done.

"The medical assistants believed the attestations were premature, wrong, and illegal because the abortion surgery had not yet been performed and they were concerned about the quality and thoroughness of the procedures," the lawsuit stated.

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Rodriguez claimed in the lawsuit that one medical assistant told her the doctor refused to confirm that he had fully completed an abortion before placing an IUD into a patient. The medical assistant had to call the doctor back to remove the IUD and complete the abortion after an ultrasound check showed the procedure was not complete, according to court records.

The doctor still works for the clinics, according to Planned Parenthood Arizona.

According to the lawsuit, another doctor was rude to numerous employees, including to Rodriguez on multiple occasions. Rodriguez claimed the doctor's actions worsened when she complained.

Complaints against practices

Later in September, according to the lawsuit, Rodriguez reported to a supervisor that a manager violated state law by not reporting that a minor with an adult partner was seeking an abortion, according to court records.

Rodriguez said she did not get a response from the supervisor, according to the lawsuit.

Rodriguez spoke to the same supervisor about her concerns about staff access to a medicine room. According to the lawsuit, Rodriguez did not feel comfortable with the door being left open during work hours.

Rodriguez fired after medication found in desk

At the end of September, Rodriguez received a memo giving her a final warning.

"The purported deficiencies were about adherence to PPA financial policy and procedure issues, inventory control issues, personnel and supervisory issues, alleged failure to perform daily duties, and alleged inconsistent and inaccurate communication," according to the lawsuit.

Rodriguez told the human resources director that she believed the memo was a "form of a harassment" in response to her complaints, according to the lawsuit.

After receiving the final warning, a supervisor claimed she found narcotics inside Rodriguez's desk, according to the lawsuit.

Rodriguez claimed the medication was not a narcotic. She said in the lawsuit that it was common practice for staff to store medication that way before transferring it to the clinic's purchasing department for handling and disposal.

According to the lawsuit, when Rodriguez realized the medication was missing from her desk, she contacted the supervisor and was told an incident report was not necessary.

A day later, she was fired for violating the clinic's controlled substance policy.

Planned Parenthood response

Planned Parenthood and its clinicians are evaluated by the Arizona Department of Health Services and the U.S. Department of Drug Enforcement Administration.

"These inspections and visits by government agencies cover and investigate the areas that the former employee's claims were directed at and were not substantiated by any of their evaluations of our staff or facilities," said Tayler Tucker, a Planned Parenthood Arizona spokeswoman.

Howard said the health and safety of patients are a priority for Planned Parenthood Arizona, and the organization supports the court system in making sure workplaces are safe and fair, and follow the law.

"While we disagree with the verdict and the damages awarded, we will not allow this event to distract from Planned Parenthood’s 100% focus on protecting access to health care for those Arizonans who need it most," he said. "We will consider next steps with that priority in mind.”

Have thoughts about Arizona’s legal system? Reach criminal justice reporter Lauren Castle at Lauren.Castle@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Lauren_Castle.

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