Andrea Morris starts each day waiting for help to get out of bed. She relies on a special elevator and help from her sons and caregivers. She requires 24/7 care, unable to take even a sip of water without assistance.

We first met Morris during his labor law trial in the spring. We asked her what she thought about hearing her former boss, Karen Serna, testify about what happened the day Morris wasn’t feeling well at work. She said in a loud but hesitant voice, “I didn’t like it.”

Nurse Serna took cell phone video of Morris as she suffered a sudden cardiac arrest, telling 911 it was a seizure. Nurses and doctors on scene did not administer oxygen or CPR until more than 7 minutes after he collapsed. A doctor testified under oath that he was not qualified to perform CPR.

As for Nurse Serna’s reaction, Morris’ attorney, Keith More, said, “There were six different chances that she should have recognized, should have done something, but she didn’t do anything.”

City of Hope wanted the 911 call and video excluded, but the judge ruled that both “allowed the court to understand what actually happened on 5/14/2020.”

The judge’s ruling concluded that Morris and his attorneys “have sustained the burden of proof that his sudden cardiac arrest is work-related and therefore occurred within the scope of his employment.”

“We were so relieved,” said Pam Bertino, Morris’ sister and guardian. “I cried when I spoke to our lawyer, and he told me the news. The judge made a very wise decision. City of Hope had its day in court. We have the answer we have been waiting for all this time.”

City of Hope released this statement:

“We respectfully disagree with the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board’s decision and are evaluating next steps.”

These steps include the right to appeal. City of Hope has until the end of November to do so.

“The fact that they potentially want to prolong the process is just torture for Andrea,” Bertino said. “We hope they do the right thing. They’re a multi-billion dollar company and they have insurance for things like this, so it’s something that needs to happen sooner rather than later . We’re almost at our wit’s end.

Her family has already sold Morris’ house, liquidated her $401,000 and set up a GoFundMe account to help cover caregiver costs, which they estimate amount to about $300,000 a year. There are also millions of medical liens.

The City of Hope statement continues:

“Our thoughts continue to be with Ms. Morris and her family. Ms. Morris is a valued colleague and friend to the staff at the City of Hope facility where she worked. Our team feels a deep sense of empathy and compassion for her and her situation.”

Those words ring hollow for Morris’ family who say they expect a lifetime of expensive care in the future. She now lives with her elderly parents who, along with her siblings, had to buy her specialized vans. The future of her sons, now caregivers, has also changed.

“She wanted to help them get through college, and we’re not able to do that with the limited funds she has left, which are rapidly dwindling,” Bertino said. “We’re angry because it’s taken so long. It just shouldn’t be this way.”

Although the judge’s ruling answers the question of whether this was a workplace accident, it also references two other hospitals where Morris worked in the months before the catastrophic brain injury suffered on the job . The City of Hope said:

“It is important to note that the decision was not based on how our staff responded to the event, but rather found that COVID-related stress at Ms. Morris’s job at multiple medical centers caused or contributed to to his sudden cardiac arrest. We respectfully disagree with this conclusion.