Fired nurse sues over Tiger's records claim

Jan 22, 2011 11:42 AM |

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A nurse fired for allegedly looking at the medical records of Tiger Woods is suing for defamation and says he never saw the golf star’s files, the Orlando Sentinel reported on Friday.

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Tiger Woods
Photograph by: JOHN SOMMERS II
Credit: REUTERS

David Rothenberg seeks 400,000 dollars in damages plus reinstatement and a letter of explanation from officials at Health Central, the hospital where Woods was taken after a November 2009 car crash that spawned his sex scandal.
Woods was treated for several hours at the hospital after an early morning crash near his home, which led to revelations of affairs with multiple women, an eventual divorce from wife Elin Nordegren and a five-month hiatus from golf before a winless 2010 season.
Hospital officials fired Rothenberg in December of 2009 for looking at the record of Woods three times within 10 minutes on his computer, according to the lawsuit filed on Friday.
Woods used the aliases Ernest Smith and Ronald Williams while at Health Central, according to the lawsuit.
Rothenberg, who faces the loss of his nursing license, accused the hospital of defamation and conspiracy to defame plus violating polygraph procedures and causing harm to his reputation.
“My client wants to clear his name more than anything else,” said Michael Gort, Rothenberg’s attorney.
Rothenberg argues the evidence against him was circumstantial and that he left his computer terminal unattended and someone else logged in to peep at the golf star’s medical records.
“The biggest problem here is that the hospital did not secure its patient-care system,” Gort said.