Opinion ID: 6494059
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: HHSC/HMC Failed to Establish a Rational Relationship Between Shi-mose’s Conviction and the Duties and Responsibilities of a Radiological Technician

Text: When presented with cross-motions for summary judgment in the context of HRS §§ 378-2 and 378-2.5, the court’s task is twofold. First, the court must apprise itself of the undisputed material facts relating to the duties and responsibilities of the position. In so doing, the court is not necessarily limited to duties and responsibilities contained in a formal job description. Second, the court must analyze the rationality of any relationship that the defendant has asserted between the conviction and the employee’s ability to perform his or her undisputed job duties. 12 Where factual issues bearing on the rationality of an asserted relationship remain, neither party is entitled to summary judgment. Here, HHSC/HMC has asserted two rational relationships between Shimose’s conviction and the responsibilities and duties of a radtech: (1) That radtechs have access to drugs, syringes, needles, and patient charts; and (2) that radtechs work with vulnerable patient groups who are at risk of having “their medication taken from them and/or [being] sold an illegal drug.” 13 Before addressing those relationships, we briefly discuss the primary duties and responsibilities of a radtech.
Both HHSC’s and HMC’s formal job descriptions indicate that radteehs at HMC are primarily responsible for medical imaging and the preparation and maintenance of medical imaging equipment. Other duties include preparing patients for imaging and making sure that they are comfortable with the imaging process. HMC’s radteehs also process, review, and transmit radiographic images. There is no indication that radteehs at HMC administer or even assist patients with any type of drugs. A felony drug conviction simply has no bearing on an individual’s ability to perform the primary imaging duties of a radtech at HMC. Accordingly, there is no rational relationship between Shi-mose’s drug conviction and the core duties of a radtech at HMC that would have entitled HHSC/HMC to disqualify Shimose from prospective employment. 14 ;
HHSC/HMC has contended that its radteehs “have access to an array of drugs and related materials such as syringes and needles.” Specifically, HHSC/HMC asserted that radteehs at its facility have access to crash carts, drug reaction boxes, anesthesia carts, and hospital storage areas. HHSC/ HMC also asserted that access to patient charts provides information that can be used to divert drugs. In this case, HHSC/HMC has not presented undisputed facts that establish a rational relationship between a drug conviction and an HMC radtech’s proximity to locked crash carts and drug reaction boxes. Although crash carts and drug reaction boxes at HMC contain syringes and needles, neither syringes nor needles are controlled items. Syringes and needles are readily and cheaply available to the public. Furthermore, an HMC radtech’s potential access to the non-eon-trolled substances contained in crash carts and drug reaction boxes does not bear a rational relationship to a drug conviction. There is no reason why an employee with a drug conviction would pose a risk because he or she has access to, among other things, sterile water, Benadryl, sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), Zantac, or the other substances contained in crash carts and drug reaction boxes. None of the drugs in the crash cart or the drug reaction boxes at HMC are regulated by the federal Controlled Substances Act, and HHSC/HMC presented no rebuttal evidence tending to establish that these substances are controlled in any way. See 21 U.S.C. § 812; 21 C.F.R. §§ 1308.11-1308.15. Additionally, HHSC/HMC failed to establish the rationality of the relationship between a drug conviction and an HMC rad-tech’s fitness to handle patient charts as a matter of law. HHSC/HMC failed to introduce undisputed material facts showing that access to a patient’s chart would lead to access to controlled substances. Finally, the relationship between a drug conviction and access to controlled substances may prove to be rational in this ease. 15 Drug diversion is a serious problem at some hospitals, and the risk of diversion may, depending on the circumstances, rationally be increased by hiring an individual with a conviction for the sale of a controlled substance. However, diversion depends on access. See Diversion of Drugs Within Health Care Facilities, 87(7) Mayo Clinic Proc. at 674 (“[D]ata suggest[s] that ready access is a critical component of drug diversion from the health care facility workplace.”). Issues of material fact remain surrounding HHSC/ HMC’s allegations that controlled substances might be present in anesthesia carts and storage areas. Issues of material fact also remain with respect to whether radtechs at HMC have a level of access to anesthesia carts, storage areas, and the hospital pharmacy that is rationally related to a prior felony drug conviction. 16
HHSC/HMC asserts that there is a rational relationship between a drug conviction and the risk that vulnerable patients might have “their medication taken from them.” Although this relationship is somewhat speculative, if an HMC radtech’s contact with patients involved a legally significant degree of access to controlled substances then it might create a rational relationship. However, questions of material fact remain regarding how a radtech at HMC could obtain controlled substances from a patient in the course of his or her duties. HHSC/HMC did not introduce undisputed evidence that its patients have physical control over controlled substances that might be diverted. HHSC/HMC did not assert that its patients have access to quantities of pills, or that several doses of medication are ever left out in a patient’s hospital room. HHSC/HMC did not assert that its patients bring controlled substances with them when undergoing radiographic imaging. HHSC/HMC merely asserted that there is a risk that vulnerable patients would have their medication taken. In the absence of undisputed material facts establishing access, HHSC/HMC was not entitled to summary judgment on this theory. Additionally, genuine issues of material fact remain regarding the asserted relationship between Shimose’s felony conviction and the risk that vulnerable patients “might be sold an illegal drug.” If HRS § 378-2.5 extended so broadly that any contact with the elderly or young children created a rational relationship to a prior drug conviction, then all individuals with prior drag convictions could be disqualified from any job that dealt with the public at large. But drag convictions often have nothing to do with elder/child abuse, and should not serve as a blanket disqualification from employment that requires a modicum of interaction with children and the elderly. Such a broad discriminatory prohibition would contradict the legislative compromise of HRS § 378-2.5.