Nurse Alleges Wrongful Firing After Reporting Safety Risks at Celebrity Surgery Center

A former nurse at the Specialty Surgical Center of Beverly Hills has reached a tentative settlement in a lawsuit in which she alleges she was wrongfully fired after protesting what she called dangerous cost-cutting that placed patients at risk, including high-profile celebrity clients.

Tentative Deal in Santa Monica Court

Attorneys for 60-year-old nurse Vita Olivo notified Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Mark H. Epstein on February 26th that the parties had reached a “conditional” settlement and said they expect to file a request for dismissal by June 26th.

The terms of the agreement were not disclosed, and no monetary figures have been made public.

Olivo, a nurse for more than 30 years, filed her complaint in April 2022, seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

Her lawsuit accused the center of wrongful termination, retaliation, age discrimination, defamation, false light invasion of privacy, and failing to provide legally required meal and rest breaks.

Allegations of Unsafe Cost-Cutting

Olivo began working at the Specialty Surgical Center in April 2012, primarily in its ophthalmology and surgical departments, and said that her skills and knowledge were highly valued at the facility. Often, she would be pulled to other areas of the surgical center to assist the medical team, including other nurses.

According to the complaint, she became alarmed when the facility allegedly began hiring “substandard, inexperienced and poorly trained” nurses—often brand-new graduates with no hospital background and little training—at lower wages to save money.

The suit states that many of these nurses struggled with basic tasks such as starting IVs, sometimes sticking patients two or three times unsuccessfully before Olivo was called to intervene, sometimes starting upwards of 45 IVs in a single shift.

One celebrity patient, who was not named in the filing, allegedly threatened to leave the facility after three failed IV attempts; Olivo was summoned and successfully inserted the IV on her first try, allowing the procedure to go forward, according to the lawsuit.

The complaint further claims the surgery center was consistently understaffed, leaving nurses overworked and making it impossible for them to take meal breaks. “This was not only a violation of legal requirements, but also created further safety issues because the staff was exhausted and deprived of adequate time to eat, drink water, and take brief breaks,” the suit contends, adding that both employees and patients were “seriously endangered.”

Claims of Surgical Error and Cover-Up

In one incident alleged in the lawsuit, a patient undergoing surgery allegedly had surgical mesh placed on the right side of the body instead of the left. The complaint says the “hurried doctor” realized the error only after leaving the facility and driving toward Las Vegas, then called staff and instructed them to “keep the patient under,” prolonging the time under anesthesia.

Olivo alleges the center did not inform the patient of the mistake, falsified documentation, and “illegally covered it up.” 

“This was the type of dangerously sloppy conduct that Ms. Olivo claims she tried to prevent and correct,” the lawsuit states.

New Administrator, Old Nurse, Rising Tensions

According to the complaint, tensions escalated in 2019 when the Specialty Surgical Center hired a new administrator who was expected to cut costs “at the cost of patient care and legal requirements.”

 Although the administrator had no medical background, the lawsuit claims, they made decisions that directly affected medical treatment, with “predictably disastrous results for patients and employees.”

Olivo alleges the administrator was hostile toward her because she was older and earned more than younger, less experienced nurses. In response to Olivo’s vocal objections to what she viewed as unsafe and illegal practices, as well as to her age and salary, the administrator “sought a reason to eliminate Ms. Olivo from their employment,” the suit claims.

At one point, management reassigned Olivo from the pre-op unit to recovery, but later moved her back because of what the complaint describes as a lack of competent staff to handle her former duties.

Patient Fall Cited as Pretext, Nurse Says

The stated reason for Olivo’s April 2021 termination was a patient fall that occurred while she was on duty.

The lawsuit alleges management “seized upon this incident” to accuse her of negligence, falsifying paperwork, and failing to properly assess the patient, without conducting a thorough investigation.

Olivo maintains she followed appropriate procedures and was not negligent. The patient, she says, was not classified as a fall risk, had undergone a non-surgical procedure, and had requested privacy while using the restroom.

After the fall, the center allegedly claimed she had not performed an assessment, but Olivo says she collaborated with two physicians in evaluating the patient before discharge.

The complaint argues that her termination was actually driven by her whistleblowing over patient safety and by age- and pay-related bias.

“In fact, Specialty Surgical Center waited until Ms. Olivo had completed another work shift before terminating her,” the lawsuit states. “If Ms. Olivo were truly a threat to patient safety, she would not have been permitted to work another full shift before her termination.”

Center Denies Allegations

In earlier court filings, attorneys for the Specialty Surgical Center denied all of Olivo’s allegations. They argued that her claims were barred by the statute of limitations and rejected the assertions of unsafe practices and discrimination.

The center, described in the lawsuit as a facility “well known in the community” and frequented by “numerous famous and wealthy patients,” has not publicly commented on the tentative settlement.

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