Wife Had A Heart Attack 35 Weeks Pregnant, Job Said She’ll Lose Job If She Doesn’t Return To Work.

Hey all –

Throwaway account because reasons. My wife is a nurse at a local medical group in a somewhat rural area. Specifically working in peds as a nurse for a doctor, not a hospital setting. The org has several offices for different resources nearby, such as women's health, imaging, adult care, etc.

My wife had a rare heart attack (SCAD) at 35 weeks pregnant. Due to the rural area we live in, we ended up seeking care at the advice of several practitioners at a larger university hospital ~ 3 hours away. However, at the original attack, the doctors, including her OB who works at the same org my wife works for and sees her at Christmas parties, stated that she should not, and they will not allow her to return to work or drive for 4 weeks, which will put her close to term. This automatically triggered her FMLA leave that her work uses for maternity leave, as well as short term disability. All the doctors filled out the paperwork. We went to the larger hospital who literally had practicing doctors for high-risk cardiovascular pregnancies. They didn’t want her to go into labor, so we had a scheduled C-Section and gave birth to a healthy baby boy on 2/18.

We had a couple more bumps after delivery, mainly due to the C-Section and general recovery, but everyone is home safe now and we’re starting to have follow-ups. My wife’s HR department let her know that they’re expecting her to return to work at the end of April. However, her OB’s – both local and at the larger hospital, won’t clear her for anything until the first week of April. All the doctors have stated that she will need to attend cardiac rehab to ensure she is even ready to go back to work. We had some ups and downs post-partum maintaining blood pressure and dealing with fluid, but since those issues are gone.

We talked with the Cardiology team at the large hospital, they suggested local cardiac rehab 3 days a week for 4 months and stated that once OB clears my wife for rehab, that rehab will be the ones letting her know if she can or cannot return to work and if so when.

My wife’s HR team knows that she had a heart attack. My wife asked today that if she isn’t cleared by doctors to return, what happens? HR didn’t bring anything regarding long term disability, which my wife pays for already. Thought that was odd. HR stated that if she exhausts all her FMLA and is unfit to work medically or return, that she can ask for a leave of absence for 1-3 weeks. After which, if she cannot return, she will lose her position and could potentially apply again.

I am probably counting my chickens before they hatch, but still in sticker shock from everything and trying to figure out how to navigate some of this. I do think she will be able to return to work, but I think it will be more of a May / June timeline. My main question is whether I should be conversating with an attorney? Does this sound way off to anyone? I find it wild that an organization can terminate someone to recover from a major health event versus letting them invoke their benefits. Location: MD and is at will.