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Tuesday, July 5, 2011 | 2:24 p.m.
Clark County commissioners approved Tuesday the payment of $150,000 to settle a lawsuit by a former University Medical Center data technician diagnosed with claustrophobia, a condition that arose when she was forced to work in a cubicle.
Jayne Feshold was a data technician hired by the county-run hospital in 1999. Her suit says she "worked without incident" until May 2007. Then the hospital's medical records department was moved to a new building and she was assigned to work in an area "consisting of a small cubicle workspace instead of a more open environment."
Soon after, she began to exhibit "symptoms of severe anxiety, making it impossible for her to work efficiently." Her symptoms were later diagnosed as the result of claustrophobia, a fear of enclosed spaces. Her supervisor was sympathetic and let her work in an open area.
A new supervisor a few months later, the lawsuit says, forced her to work in a cubicle. Her anxiety grew to such a degree that she sought help at UMC's emergency room in July 2007. When she found she would not be allowed to work in an open environment, she found a new job as a guard in UMC's Labor and Delivery Unit.
Then in February 2008, she filed a request to be accommodated under guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act — she wanted to work in more open space. The suit says two doctors made similar diagnoses of claustrophobia.
But in March 2008, the suit says, the hospital wrote a letter to Feshold saying she did not have "a disability within the meaning of the ADA." Since she could not return to her job, Feshold was fired in April 2008.
The settlement will pay Feshold $89,012.91 and $60,987.09 to her attorney.
I think I have this too. Where do I apply for my check?
What a joke.
What size is her bedroom?
How does she drive?
How does she use a restroom?
How does she shower?
You mean to tell me that they can't be held medically negligent and responsible for the loss of my daughter in their hospital because of a liability cap on peoples lives, but someone who wanted to work in a more "wide open space" gets $150,000.00! Wow!
Ridiculous. If it's wide-open spaces she seeks, I hope she can find work as a cowgirl.
claustrophobia is a serious symptom of anxiety disorder, related to panic attacks. It cannot be
consciously controlled by the cerebral cortex, as the weak signals from the primitive part of the brain are drowned out by the very powerful signals of the primitive parts of the brain, related to the "fight or flight" response of the adrenal glands uncontrollably producing adrenalin. Normal people without anxiety/panic disorders can control their anxiety in a normal fashion, but millions of people develop anxiety disorders throughout life. The medications to control this disorder are sedatives of one kind or another. Many people turn to alcohol or pot to relax. Imagine putting a feral cat into a cage and watch what it does, it will probably freak out. Some people can be put in small confining spaces and are just fine. Some people feel like they are being tortured by this. You have to go thru the feelings created by claustrophobia to understand the suffering caused by this disorder. One will suffer nightmares of being trapped in confining spaces. I suffer from this disorder. I actually ran off of a plane in a full state of panic and the plane had to stop the boarding procedure, and I got my luggage a week later (embarrassingly!). I can't be confined for very long, and I suffer nightmares constantly of being confined or suffering other anxiety symptoms such as freeway incidents, fear of heights, and being trapped with a gun that won't fire or jams, amongst other nightmares. It actually causes more suicides than depression, and can lead to major depressive symptomatology or be co-morbid with it. There is no cure. Relaxation methods help alleviate symptoms, so does getting drunk. Yes, I drive a huge Lexus for a reason, I feel confined in most cars unless in the front. I will refuse to drive as a passenger if I get a queasy feeling about it. I won't get in a bus, I refuse to fly unless I take a Xanax first and the plane is fairly empty and I am in the front by the exit or in first class by myself, and the flight is short. It gets worse.
Can only imagine the drama trips to the crapper inflict.
: O
FIX THE LAST COMMENT: claustrophobia is a serious symptom of anxiety disorder, related to panic attacks. It cannot be
consciously controlled by the cerebral cortex, as the weak signals from the intelligent part of the brain are drowned out by the very powerful signals of the primitive parts of the brain.
Also, I am amazed by people that work in a submarine for 8 months a time in a confined space under the ocean, I'd kill myself first. Seriously. Or a tank, 5 guys confined in a tank, in a hot tank. Tunnel rats in Vietnam, in fact the Vietcong living in very confined spaces in tunnels would drive me insane. Yes, I am overweight by about 30-40 pounds, and yes coincidentally when I started getting fat my symptoms of anxiety worsened greatly. I suspect that the office worker is overweight to some degree, perhaps very overweight (not mentioned in the article). People always laugh at my claustrophobia, it is I suppose funny to people who do not suffer from it. Yea, imagine the laughs one gets from putting someone like me in a solitary confinement, or in the back of a hot crowded bus, watch me freak. I might pick up a weapon and kill everyone to get out. It's funny isn't it. I don't understand how this disorder is funny. It is a recognized psychiatric disorder, and there is no cure, except to kill me or sedate me with Xanax or Valium to stop the medulla from sending out the strong "fight or flight" responses (adrenaline). Or alcohol works to a degree, but watch someone freak out on a plane when the alcohol turns dark and they can't control it. Most of the plane incidents where a passenger freaks out are caused by panic attacks or claustrophobia or fear of flying/acrophobia where the sufferer wants the plane to land now or else. It is a terrible feeling to have, you can't understand it. The panic attack hits you like a 20 foot ocean wave, like a brick wall. It lasts for a minute or two, or it can last for quite a while. Some people can't leave their homes (panic attacks w/agoraphobia). Well, there it is, laugh away at how some office worker cashed out 150k, it is pretty funny. Now everyone is going to complain of claustrophobia. Just like every vet has PTSD. Some may be exaggerating or lying to get the money, but most aren't. What a sick society we live in, it all comes down to the almighty dollar. Ask the shellshocked veteran what they think of being called a malingerer or litigious sponge off of society.
"The settlement will pay Feshold $89,012.91 and $60,987.09 to her attorney."
Thanx, Schoenmann, for giving us the rest of the story without making us guess.
Noindex -- although we don't always agree, good points!
Harley -- good one!
"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." -- Dick the Butcher in Shakespeare's "Henry The Sixth," Part 2 Act 4, scene 2
I agree with noindex.
By the way since I have panic attacks and anxiety from our current economy can I sue the Federal Government? Bet its worth about a million or so.
Yea, also many people can't stand living in California coastal areas due to the earthquakes (I will say a significant earthquake is like a panic attack in a way, it is uncontrollable and you just go with it and hope it ends soon!). Well, when I was a kid I used to hide in my closet with my little B&W tv in the early 70's. I had no anxiety of confined spaces whatsoever. Many people develop anxiety over time, I did. I cringe at at situations that in the past how used to be immune to! Well, it will end when I die, otherwise the suffering continues, and I suspect for many others as well. Unfortunately, crooks and scumbags will put in claims for claustrophobia huh, it isn't fair to the ones with the real disorder. Oh well. I think that most people like me live a lifestyle to avoid the panic attacks, so we never freak out that bad, especially if we have medications to help. But you can see this office worker specifically wanted to be accommodated for an open space cubicle, this was done for a reason! Don't take people like us lightly, or we'll just quit and move on to a more favorable situation for us.
Yea the real fascists out there would like to gas the people with all these darned medical disorders. It would sure save money!
Oops, that was already done. Nazi Germany workers comp program was called, gas chamber party! ha ha
but it's not funny.
Our society is supposed to be advanced, we have compassion and sympathy for those not so fortunate. Yea, you get burned out on all of it, and as a society we seem to be turning to the more conservative viewpoint to let people suffer some, it's life. Well, whatever.
@gonefishin65
Your posts make me claustrophobic. Use paragraphs.
Sounds like bunk from someone who knows how to play the system.
If however she was properly diagnosed and UMC knew this, they should have done the smart thing and made accomodations.
I can understand claustrophobia...but in my book a 6 foot by 8 foot cubicle is not something that should cause it. Sound like a bogus lawsuit. Who was her lawyer..Glen Lerner?
Working for my current boss had made me intolerant of idiots. I'm suing.
How hard is it to remove a cubicle wall? - seems like the supervisor cost the county (and taxpayers) lots of money.
KillerB -- you obviously have no understanding of what Shakespeare meant when he said that. You might want to study it a little further before you quote him. As for as your envy towards the attorney, you might also want to examine its genesis.
"KillerB -- you obviously have no understanding of what Shakespeare meant when he said that. ... As for as your envy towards the attorney..."
Tellafriend -- lighten up, Brad. Shakespeare's "Henry The Sixth" was and is fiction. So "obviously" my understanding is better than yours.
And it's not like judges have never quoted it. Just one sampling is found @ In re Marriage of Carla and Gale Wagoner, 176 Cal. App. 3d 936, 943 (1986): "We find [husband's lawyer's] conduct throughout to reflect very poorly on him in particular and the legal profession in general. He has violated a trust, overreached an adversary, and done a disservice to an overburdened judicial system. This sort of activity may inspire great literature on occasion: E.g., "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." (Shakespeare, 2 Henry VI, act IV, s. ii.) But it does nothing for public confidence in the law or its practitioners."
"Envy" is the opposite of an accurate description. Distrust (a far milder term when one reads between the lines) of lawyers is actually an American tradition since the original colonial days. That's explained in Faretta v. California, 95 S. Ct. 2525, 422 U.S. 806 (1975). Read section C, starts @ 422 U.S. 826.
One more time -- see Shakespeare, Henry the Sixth, Pt. 2, Act 4, scene 2, when Dick the Butcher stated to Jack Cade, "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers", and Jack responded: "Nay, that I mean to do."
That's my post and I'm sticking to it.
For every protection granted to any specific segment of our society, there will be those that exploit those protections...
Is this one of those cases?
Not for me to judge.
Certainly, Claustrophobia is nothing to sneeze at.
It can be a terribly debilitating condition.
The $150,000 is "go away" money. Cheaper than litigating.
(a practice I ABHOR.)
Not exactly a huge payday for giving up your job, especially in these times, and for what it could potentially do to your "future employment opportunities."
"Then in February 2008, she filed a request to be accommodated under guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act"
And that is the root of the problem here.
Looks like you need to lighten up Killer. What does trust have to do with the newspaper story? Nothing. Nonetheless, if you understood what Shakespeare meant, as you stated, then you misrepresented it, which creates a trust issue on your part, not the attorney in the newspaper article.
<< A new supervisor a few months later, the lawsuit says, forced her to work in a cubicle. Her anxiety grew to such a degree that she sought help at UMC's emergency room in July 2007. When she found she would not be allowed to work in an open environment, she found a new job as a guard in UMC's Labor and Delivery Unit.
Then in February 2008, she filed a request to be accommodated under guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act -- she wanted to work in more open space. The suit says two doctors made similar diagnoses of claustrophobia >>
Let me get this straight: She went and acquired a new position at UMC as a guard on the Maternity ward. What did they do - put her in a closet? I've seen MW guards - they do not sit in small areas that are enclosed (duhhhh - how would they know what is going on if they were not able to observe???) WHY did she take the guard position when she allegedly knew that she again would be in a confined space? Did she ever think of applying for a position that was in a more open space, like the coffee shop? Or gift shop?
Sheesh! People - if you need a lawyer - GET THIS BROAD'S COUNSEL because who ever it is is good!!
vegasbike, Harley
Good ones!
"...let's kill all the lawyers",
When I worked at the big law firm in Chicago, one secretary showed up one day with a coffee mug which quoted that line. Within a month, about 25 secretaries had mugs on their desk with that saying! Some of us smart asses, if we didn't want to be bothered that day or our boss was being an ass, would put that cup in a place where the attorney would see it! (Usually the "in box" on top of his/her mail). The attorney usually stayed away when that innocent cup was in view! (Hey, it was better than telling them to "get the F away" or "leave me alone - I don't want to see your ugly ass out of your office until later").
UMC is a big joke all they had to do is give her a bigger work space now they will pay her money they don't have nothing new the BS continues
Ok,,packing and boxing one cubicle to send to gone fishing for a present. Hope he likes it!
Many people (who comment here)in this town really scare me. Quick to judge based on a newspaper article
not privy to all the facts, but many of you have all the opinions. Must be the fall out from the Casey trial. All those following Ms. Grace were ready to lynch her before the trial even began.
Thank goodness this individual was not named. I can't imagine what her life would be like with such hateful, vicious comments-and you don't even have all the facts-KillerB , Noindex,Munch, etc...
Let's hope you all are never picked for a jury.
Impartiality, I suppose, is something developed with maturity.
cnev, actually I think KillerB, Det_Munch and myself would make great critical thinking jurors.
That seems to be the one important item missing from juries these days.
This was cross-posted from the Onion, right?
cnev
Being that I spent 29 years working in the legal profession, I saw a LOT of things. People always will try to get away with murder and some succeed. Many people try to work the system - some fail, some win. Even though I was non-legal personnel, I also learned a lot of things from both the attorneys I worked for and also - back then there was no Lexus research; we, the legal assistants helped with the research the old fashioned way - going to the law library and finding the appropriate cases in the proper jurisdictional books. We then had to type excerpts of these cases into the documents the lawyer was preparing. It wasn't "cut and paste" in those days nor was it just attach something the attorney printed off the computer. It was the good old fashioned practice of law. Everyone learned.
Our society today has become MORE litiguous regardless; they get a good sheister lawyer who can find some tiny loophole in anything. In this case, it was easier for UMC to pay up even though they probably did everything right - remember their business is the health care field. As someone said - she worked for a health care facility. I do not believe the powers that be would ignore her condition and place her in an area that would aggravate that condition.
BTW - I am quite familiar with our jury system since not only did I almost serve (once - couldn't get out of it since I used up my 3 excuses but as excused anyway) but was always on the other side of it - assisting in preparing those jury instructions so they made sense to the average juror. It is not easy to do that when you have to interpret the law in layman's terms. The jury in the Anthony case came to the right verdict even though Casey or a family member KNOW what happened to that little girl. In the case at hand, this person did NOT deserve the settlement she got but I still say UMC settled it to get her out of their "hair". And yes, there may very well be another side to this story and they settled because the employee was a pain in the ass.