Complaint Review: Terrebonne General Medical Center TGMC John Ford Tory Fletcher Carla Edgar Cheryl Dufrene - Houma Louisiana

I had filed a complaint against the Stephen Mark Klyza, an associate of the Kullman Firm. Mr. Klyza, in my opinion, violated multiple provisions of the Louisiana Rules of Professional Conduct. It seems that the Louisiana Bar Association condones licensed attorneys to practice in an illegal and unethical manor. In response to the complaint I filed with the Louisiana Bar Association, I received the following response from James T Daly (Screening Counsel): "We have received your recent letter dated August 10, 2007 along with attached letter from Mr. Flyza. After reviewing this latetst correspondence, we find not evidence to indicate a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct. The letter expresses wishes and opinions on behalf of his client. Such communication does not violate ethical rules. Therefore, there is no basis to open a disciplinary investigation in this matter. As such, this matter will remain under the assigned administrative file number only for our own internal ease of future reference." I am completely appalled. What does this incompetent individual not understand about an attorney forwarding such information to the local Sheriff's Offices as not constitution a violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct? how can this NOT be a violation of Rule 4.1: RULE 4.1. TRUTHFULNESS IN STATEMENTS TO OTHERS In the course of representing a client a lawyer shall not knowingly: (a) make a false statement of material fact or law to a third person; (b) fail to disclose a material fact when disclosure is necessary to avoid assisting a criminal or fraudulent act by a client, unless disclosure is prohibited by Rule 1.6. I would love to know, if the letter the unethical S. Mark Klyza sent was not a violation, then what is? It is truly a sad day when a governing body such as the Louisiana Bar Association turns its back on society and unethically sides with those licensed through them. All I can say is you can't trust an unethical firm like the Kullman Firm and you can't trust governing bodies such as the Louisiana Bar Association to enforce their own rules and regulations.

On Wednesday, July 25, 2007, I mailed off the complaints to the Louisiana Bar Association and the Louisiana Board of Nursing. I filed a complaint against Stephen Mark Klyza, Esq, an attorney with The Kullman Firm. The Kullman firm represents Terrebonne General Medical Center. My complaint involved the reporting of Mr. Klyza and The Kullman firm violating at least four provisions of the Rules of Professional Conduct. Here are the provisions I mentioned in the complaint. 1.) RULE 3.1. MERITORIOUS CLAIMS AND CONTENTIONS Under this provision, it states that a lawyer may not ...defend a proceeding... ...unless there is a basis in law and fact for doing so that is not frivolous... Mr. Klyza knowingly threatened a lawsuit when there was no legal merit for a lawsuit or legal proceeding. The threat of a frivolous lawsuit was nothing more than a scare tactic. The claim for libel and slander were based upon my posting on RipOffReport.com (http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/205/RipOff0205255.htm). Of which, I did send the Louisiana Bar Association an printout of this entire complaint as evidence. 2.) RULE 3.8. SPECIAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF A PROSECUTOR The prosecutor in a criminal case shall: (a) refrain from prosecuting a charge that the prosecutor knows is not supported by probable cause. Similar to my previous statement, Mr. Klyza threatened with the intention of filing a lawsuit where there was no support or probable cause. 3.) RULE 4.1. TRUTHFULNESS IN STATEMENTS TO OTHERS In the course of representing a client a lawyer shall not knowingly: (a) make a false statement of material fact or law to a third person; or At the bottom of the letter, it shows that a carbon copy of this letter was sent to the Terrebonne and St. Mary Parish Sheriffs Office. This is a violation of 4.1(a) as Mr. Klyza made a false statement of material fact to a third person. 4.) RULE 4.1. TRUTHFULNESS IN STATEMENTS TO OTHERS (b) fail to disclose a material fact when disclosure is necessary to avoid assisting a criminal or fraudulent act by a client, unless disclosure is prohibited by Rule 1.6. Similar to complaint three, Mr. Klyza stated the harassment issue as a fact Mr. Klyza failed to provide neither of the Sheriffs Offices with the facts of the case (i.e. the only communication in regards to the harassment claim was the letter I sent to Phyllis Peoples, her response, and my response to her letter). Mr. Klyza failed to mention that at no time prior to his letter did Phyllis Peoples, any representative of Terrebonne General Medical Center, et al made any cease and desist requests. In addition to sending the Louisiana Bar Association a copy of this RipOffReport, I also sent a copy of the letter Mr. Klyza sent me. Furthermore, I sent a copy of the two cases that I mention in the first post. It seems that Phyllis Peoples was trying to say I was slandering Terrebonne General Medical Center. It not slander if you are referring people to a court document. What is bad for The Kullman Firm is that they are responsible for their attorney's irresponsible behavior. Within the Rules of Professional Conduct, it does state that a law firm is responsible for their partners. Next is the complaint I filed with the Louisiana Board of Nursing. I filed a complaint against Carla Trahan Edgar, RN and Cheryl Loupe Dufrene, RN. The complaint was in regards to them passing on the lie about me making the statement of "One day I'm going to come in here and shoot everybody, one by one." This is a violation of the Nurse Practice Act 921(8). Paragraph 8 involves moral turpitude. It is in my opinion that those nurses acted in an immoral manor. Unfortunately, I did not have a copy of the letter Terrebonne General Medical Center sent to the Louisiana Department of Labor, which names them as the ones whom passed this lie on to administration. However, to help prove my case, I did let them know that I did attempt to obtain a copy from the Louisiana Department of Labor. I stated that Mr. Peter Wright, legal division of the Louisiana Department of Labor, refused to send me a copy, even though I stated the copy was for evidence to file a complaint against the two nurses. In the complaint, though, I did give them the case number of my unemployment claim so that they may attempt to obtain a copy from the Louisiana Department of Labor if they wish to do so. It is my hopes that these individuals are disciplined. If the nurses did not say that, then it means that someone at Terrebonne General Medical Center made it up and the truth will have to come out. The facts are that Terrebonne General Center stated to the Louisiana Department of Labor that those nurses are the ones that notified them of the incident. As for Mr. Klyza, I feel he needs to learn that he can't go around bullying people for no good reason. Just because his client (Terrebonne General Medical Center) wants him to use scare tactics does not mean he has to do so nor do so in such an unethical, unscrupulous, and diabolical way. There is always going to be someone like me that will not back down and will do whatever it legally takes to defend their rights. I will not cease my attempts to have this matter resolved until justice is served.

I recently requested a copy of the rebuttal letter Terrebonne General Medical Center sent to the Louisiana Department of Labor. The letter included the names of the individuals that accused me. Of the four, one has claimed his innocence, whom I do believe. Two of them, though, I cannot contact as the law firm for Terrebonne General Medical Center threatened a lawsuit against me for "harassment" if I attempted to contact any employees of Terrebonne General Medical Center. It is quite obvious that Phyllis Peoples, CEO or Terrebonne General Medical Center want to keep their conspiracy hushed. I spoke today with Peter Wright, Legal Division of the Louisiana Department of Labor. Mr. Wright refused my request. He stated that all information is confidential and I do not have the right to have a copy of the document. He did state that if I were filing an appeal for the unemployment claim (which expired quite some time ago), then I could obtain a copy. I notified Mr. Wright that my reason was for evidence against the two nurses (Carla Edgar, RN and Cheryl Dufrene, RN) for making false statement against me. My goal was to submit that as evidence to the Louisiana Board of Nursing. According to the disciplinary brochure (http://www.lsbn.state.la.us/documents/disc/disc2007.pdf), this would qualify under section 3(a) falsifying records. Now, this may deal with falsifying patient records, however, I feel they filed a false report when they main the claim that the previously-mentioned ER Tech stated to them that I told him, "One day I'm going to come in here and shoot everybody, one by one." Since the ER Tech has claimed (via email) that he did not make such a statement, there are only two possibilities: 1.) Cheryl Dufrene, RN and Carla Edgar conspired against me and made the false statements. or 2.) Terrebonne General Medical Center conspired against me and the nurses may have nothing to do with it. The problem is that Phyllis Peoples has repeatedly refused to discuss the matter. She has gone as far has having their attorneys (The Kullman Firm) send threatening letters. On the note of the letter that was sent quite a few months ago, I had mentioned that they stated they sent a carbon copy of the letter to the St. Mary Parish and Terrebonne Parish Sherriff's Office, which seems like an attempt to scare me. Because of them doing so (or stating they have), I will be filing a complaint against the attorney that wrote the letter. The complaint will be filed with the Louisiana Bar Association. My goal is to get to the bottom of this matter and find out why I was fired and why Phyllis Peoples wants this matter to be so hush hush.

Occasionally I will see what is going on with the unethical administration of Terrebonne General Medical Center (TGMC). I have found out that Mr. John P. Ford no longer is employed at Terrebonne General Medical Center (TGMC). He used to be the HR (Human Resources) director at Terrebonne General Medical Center (TGMC). He is now the HR director of Nicholls State University. I feel for the students and any faculty at Nicholls State University that may have to deal (or put up with) him. People will now have to deal with that unscrupulous individual (John P. Ford). I hope that people searching for Nicholls State University online will find this article so that they can see the true nature of Mr. John P. Ford and the organization he used to work for. In addition, I hope that the administrative personnel of Nicholls State University read this article so that they may see the type of person they have hired to "help" their staff and students. People like Mr. John P. Ford and Phyllis Peoples (CEO of Terrebonne General Medical Center), need to account for their wrongdoings and the way they treat people. In the case of Mr. John P. Ford, I found him to be very unprofessional and arrogant. You can contact him via the Nicholls State University website.

I would like to recant anything negative I spoke of about Mr. Fletcher. I feel that I should not have posted what I originally posted about him. As I had mentioned originally, Mr. Fletcher was being racially discriminated agianst by TGMC. In addition, TGMC knew that he and I were friends, therefore, making up such a lie would inevitably cause tension. This seems to have been their goal. Now, as to who actually made up the whole story I am still yet to find out. In regards to Carla Edgar and Cheryl Dufrene, some may wonder how I still feel if they actually did not spread the lie. Cheryl, I never had any personal problems with, however, I still admit at times I felt uneasy. In regards to Carla, my feelings have not changed. Through my whole employment at TGMC I got nothing but bad vibes off of her. In addition, I know for a fact that Carla wanted for me to be fired. All I can say is tread softly at TGMC, whether you are a patient or an employee. Those are just my personal feelings based upon my expereinces at the facility.

Since my last post, I have contacted John Warner Smith (Louisiana Secretary of Labor) via postal mail in reagrds to TGMC and The Kullman Firm. I have forwarded a copy of the letter The Kullman Firm sent me to Mr. Smith. In addition, I have filed a complaint with the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union). I have noticed that TGMC seem to love to accuse others of what they are guilty of. In my previous posts, I mentioned that TGMC threatened suit for harassment. Legally there was no harassment. I wrote a letter to the CEO, she responded, and I responded to her letter. That seems to be their claim of harassment. Today, I went to check my mail. Low and behold I have another letter from The Kullman Firm. It seems that The Kullman Firm sent the same exact letter to me, both dated August 25, 2006, twice. Therefore, since they sent it twice to me on the same day, can that not be considered harassment? Now, if the second letter were to contain some different information, then that would be different. Because of the incompetence of The Kullman Firm, I now have evidence against the firm for harassment. If necesary, in addition to a potential lawsuit against the firm, I will file a complaint with the Louisiana State Bar.

I just noticed at the bottom of the letter is the following: "SMK:ta cc: Terrebonne General Medical Center St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office" I guess they are hoping I will be scared because they forwarded the matter to the Sheriff's Office. I am not scared in the least bit. I have simply been exercising my legal rights and freedom of speach. I do hope that they also forwarded my intitial letter to the Sheriff's Office. It would be quite rude of the Kullman group to only forward their legal threat letter. By doing so, that would only be telling one side of the story.

I sent a response to what I consider a deflective response from Ms. Peoples. My response was as follows: "Dear Ms. Peoples: I have received your response dated June 15, 2006. I must say that I am very disappointed in your nonchalant and insincere attitude towards the matters I brought to your attention. However, by looking back at how easily TGMC terminated my employment and embraced false accusations about me without confirming them, I must say that your attitude matches TGMC's past actions. Since you did not respond directly to any of my concerns, I can only assume that you condone the behaviors mentioned in my previous letter. I have contacted the individuals at the Employer of Choice program. In addition, I have contacted Mr. John Warner Smith, Louisiana Secretary of Labor. I feel that it is imperative the previously mentioned individuals know of the heinous actions of TGMC. I have posted this matter on the Internet on RipOffReport.com. You can view the report at: ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff205255.htm I have mentioned two lawsuits against TGMC that involve conspiracy and TGMC infecting a patient with Hepatitis C. I will continue to post these matters on the Internet and warn as many as I can of TGMC's unscrupulous acts. The reason I have contacted such individuals as well as posted this matter is that you have decided to be so evasive in your response and seem to act as if you could care less about the underdogs that work there. Therefore, I will do everything I can legally do to warn the public about the truth of TGMC." Today I have received a letter from the legal firm that represents TGMC, The Kullman Group. The following response was received: "Our office represents Terrebonne General MEdical Center (TGMC). We have been made aware of your communications to the Louisiana Department of Labor and the Employer of Choice Program, and have investigated your releases on the internet regarding TGMC. It is our opinion that your actions are libelous and slanderous. Additionally, the Medical Center considers your ongoing communications to be harassing and the statements contained therein to be inaccurate and defamatory. While Ms. Peoples has responded to your May 12, 2006 letter, she has no desire to engage in any further written or verbal dialogue with you. The Medical Center requests that you cease and desist your communications, including specifically, all communications to Ms. Peoples or any TGMC employee or representative. Otherwise, the Medical Center will be forced to explore all possible legal measures available to the Medical Center and its personnel. Sincerely, S. Mark K" I am not suprised by such tactics on TGMC's behalf. They seem to want what I consider the truth to be silenced. In order to do so, they get legal goones to try and scare me. Firstly, I never harassed Ms. Peoples, I simply responded to her letter. Ms. Peoples not once stated for me to cease contacting her. This is how TGMC works, they turn things around and overdramatize things (see how Dr. Isabelle acts). The legal firm did state that they felt my actions are "libelous and slanderous," however, what they fail to realize is that I have the freedom of speach to state my opinion. I have written a letter to the Kullman group notifying them that I will cease all communications with TGMC, their employees, representatives, et all. However, I will not cease spreading the truth on the Internet. My initial post includes links to two legal documents of lawsuits AGAINST TGMC. Those articles are not just some random binary code on the Internet. If they would like to speak of defamation of character and slander, I can do that. How about I was escorted off of the property in plain view of the public for false alligations that were not investigated? More slander? How about TGMC filing suit for harassment when I was initially never told to cease communications. I have noticed that companies use these scare tactics on individuals that do not know their legal rights. Unfortunately for TGMC, I am not one of those individuals.

Maybe no one told you that at the outset so you could've approached the situation with the proper perspective. You are an underling. The overlings tell you to do things and expect them to be done. You are easily replaced. The people with more education and certifications are scarce and not easily replaced. Management will therefore coddle them to a considerable degree. However, if things are happening that lead to a decrease in patient care, for example a nurse sitting around while you are busy and something else needs to be done, you should complain. Those are the key words to use. Maybe the culture there is to squabble over personal differences but that doesn't mean you should engage in it. Stay professional. If someone is using abusive language to you, that doesn't give you the right to use it back at them. Either take it and shrug it off or report them. Hopefully this will help in your next job especially if it is also in healthcare. Realize that in most states if you don't have a union contract, you are an "at will" employee. That means you can be terminated for any reason, indeed even for no reason. Unless the reason is "lack of work" i.e. a layoff, you don't qualify for unemployment benefits. That is just how the world works.

I have sent an email to John Warner Smith (Louisiana Secretary of Labor) as well as The Herman Group's "Employer of Choice." It is my hopes that someone will look at this matter and hold Terrebonne General Medical Center accountable for their actions. So long as such companies are praised and governmental organizations such as the Louisiana Department of Labor turn a blind eye, such organizations will continue to abuse their employees. I mean, why not? It's not like anyone will do anything about it, right?

I have sent an email to John Warner Smith (Louisiana Secretary of Labor) as well as The Herman Group's "Employer of Choice." It is my hopes that someone will look at this matter and hold Terrebonne General Medical Center accountable for their actions. So long as such companies are praised and governmental organizations such as the Louisiana Department of Labor turn a blind eye, such organizations will continue to abuse their employees. I mean, why not? It's not like anyone will do anything about it, right?

I have sent an email to John Warner Smith (Louisiana Secretary of Labor) as well as The Herman Group's "Employer of Choice." It is my hopes that someone will look at this matter and hold Terrebonne General Medical Center accountable for their actions. So long as such companies are praised and governmental organizations such as the Louisiana Department of Labor turn a blind eye, such organizations will continue to abuse their employees. I mean, why not? It's not like anyone will do anything about it, right?

I have sent an email to John Warner Smith (Louisiana Secretary of Labor) as well as The Herman Group's "Employer of Choice." It is my hopes that someone will look at this matter and hold Terrebonne General Medical Center accountable for their actions. So long as such companies are praised and governmental organizations such as the Louisiana Department of Labor turn a blind eye, such organizations will continue to abuse their employees. I mean, why not? It's not like anyone will do anything about it, right?