MONROE, La. – A former nursing student has sued Louisiana Delta Community College and some of its employees after she claims she was wrongly dismissed from its nursing program.
Plaintiff Madelyn Mooney filed her lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Monroe Division.
In her 17-page complaint, Mooney, a Louisiana resident and who was a fourth-semester student in the practical nursing program at LDCC’s Bastrop campus, claims her dismissal from the program was racially motivated. Mooney is white.
At the crux of the lawsuit is the failure to report allegations of child abuse.
Mooney was dismissed Sept. 29, 2025 for allegedly failing to report child abuse allegations after she witnessed abuse of a nonverbal autistic child during pediatric clinical rotations.
However, three Black students who allegedly witnessed the same or similar abuse and failed to report it were not dismissed, suspended, placed on probation, or “otherwise comparably disciplined,” her suit states.
The three non-disciplined students were the daughter of defendant Almalesha Miller-Anderson; Alexandria Ezell, a former St. Francis Medical Center colleague of Anderson; and a close relative of defendant Antonio Hearn.
Mooney alleges the defendants violated the federal Civil Rights Act, the Equal Protection Clause and Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment, the First Amendment, and Louisiana law.
The named defendants include: LDCC, a public community college in Louisiana; LCTCS, the system that governs LDCC; Anderson, a practical nursing instructor and practical nursing program coordinator at the Bastrop campus; Sabrina Palmer, a LDCC practical nursing official involved in Mooney’s dismissal and appeal process; Hearn, the LDCC Bastrop campus director; and Frank Boone, LDCC’s vice chancellor of academic affairs and the decision-maker on Marooney’s final internal appeal.
Mooney had worked as a surgical technologist in labor and delivery for about four years. She was the mother of two children while attending nursing school, her suit notes.
According to the complaint, on Sept. 15, 2025 Mooney and fellow student Joy Hearn were assigned to a pediatric clinical rotation at Bastrop Pediatric Day Health Center.
That day, Mooney and Joy Hearn witnessed a CNA worker, Tina Lowery, slap a four-year-old nonverbal autistic child on the hand. The child immediately began crying, Mooney claims.
Two days later, Mooney and Joy Hearn witnessed a registered nurse slap the same child on the shoulder, leaving visible fingerprints.
“Mrs. Mooney and Joy Hearn were shocked by the conduct and discussed that the conduct was inappropriate and should be addressed,” the filing states.
“During the same clinical period, students had been instructed by Anderson to keep quiet, mind their business, and do what they were asked to do while at clinical sites.”
According to the lawsuit, a facility worker indicated that workers striking children was a recurring issue.
“Mrs. Mooney and Joy Hearn did not feel safe reporting the abuse directly to facility staff because one of the alleged abusers was the supervising RN and because students feared retaliation at the facility,” the complaint states.
“Mrs. Mooney also did not feel comfortable reporting the matter to Anderson at the facility because of its surveillance and the threatening atmosphere created by Anderson’s prior text message.”
On Sept. 25, 2025, Mooney reported the child abuse incidents to instructor Cyndi Cole because Anderson was in New Orleans on business. Cole, in turn, reported the information to Anderson the next day.
“Mrs. Mooney did not fail to report the abuse,” her suit states. “She reported the incidents through an available instructor.”
Two days later, Anderson allegedly sent Mooney a text message directing her to come to campus on Sept. 29, 2025 for a meeting with Anderson and Hearn.
Mooney claims when she arrived, Hearn was not present. Instead, Palmer attended the meeting.
Despite explaining what she witnessed and that she reported the incidents to Cole, Anderson still recommended dismissal, Mooney alleges. Palmer then approved the dismissal.
During the meeting, both Anderson and Palmer also allegedly instructed Mooney that she was not allowed to speak to anyone outside LDCC about her clinical experiences.
“No LDCC policy authorized Defendants to impose a blanket prohibition on Mrs. Mooney’s speech about clinical experiences where no patient-identifying information was disclosed,” the lawsuit states.
“As a result of Defendants’ conduct, Mrs. Mooney lost access to the nursing program in her final semester. She lost educational time, clinical training, tuition, fees, and program costs.”
Mooney seeks compensatory damages for lost tuition, fees, student loan obligations, lost wages, and lost earning capacity, among other things; nominal damages; punitive damages; reinstatement to the practical nursing program track without retaliation; expungement of her Sept. 29, 2025 dismissal; attorneys’ fees; and pre- and post-judgment interest.
She also seeks an order requiring LDCC and LCTCS to implement “non-discriminatory reporting, discipline, appeal, and anti-retaliation procedures.”
Mixon Carroll & Frazier LLC in Columbia, Louisiana, is representing Mooney in the suit.
