A former certified nursing assistant who claimed she was fired after raising concerns about a resident’s death at Fonda Specialty Care has formally withdrawn her lawsuit.
Filings show Tylene Schultz has dismissed her remaining claims against the Fonda nursing home, its parent company Care Initiatives and temporary nurse Becky Manning in Pocahontas County District Court. The portion of the case involving Manning was dismissed in April of 2025.
More recently, Schultz’s attorney, Molly Hamilton, filed papers with the court to dismiss the rest of the lawsuit. Hamilton says the dismissal follows a recent agreement between the parties that includes a confidentiality provision, so the terms are not public. The case had been scheduled to go to trial in August of 2026.
Schultz’s lawsuit centered on the death of 87‑year‑old Marvin “Pete” Jacobs, a resident at Fonda Specialty Care who had a tracheostomy and needed regular suctioning of his airway.
According to the lawsuit, Schultz was hired in the summer of 2022 as a certified nursing assistant by then‑administrator Jennifer Blair. On the overnight shift of Feb. 18 into the 19 of 2023, the nursing home brought in Manning, a temp‑agency nurse, to cover because of a shortage of staff nurses.
The lawsuit claims that during that shift, Jacobs began having increasing trouble breathing. Schultz alleged she asked Manning more than 10 times between 6 p.m. and about 2:25 a.m. to suction Jacobs’ airway, but Manning refused and never attempted to use the suction machine.
Schultz said she tried to reach supervisory‑level staff at the facility, but no one answered her calls. She also said she asked that someone call 911, but Manning told her there was no physician available at that hour to provide an order for a hospital evaluation. Jacobs died around 2:25 that morning.
In her court filing, Schultz said she and another CNA stayed with Jacobs as he pointed to his neck, coughed, gagged, struggled to breathe and changed color from lack of oxygen until he finally passed away.
After Schultz left the home at the end of her shift, she alleged that Blair told her to “keep your mouth shut and keep your opinions to yourself,” and instructed her not to communicate with Jacobs’ family.
Later that same day, Schultz was called into a meeting with Blair at Fonda Specialty Care. According to the lawsuit, Blair was aware Schultz planned to contact state regulators about Jacobs’ care. Schultz alleged she was then informed she was being fired due to “resident complaints.”
In her lawsuit, Schultz said that explanation was a pretext, and that she was actually terminated for making a complaint to the long‑term care ombudsman and to the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals about suspected abuse or neglect of Jacobs.
State inspection records later backed up concerns about Jacobs’ care. Regulators cited Fonda Specialty Care for failing to ensure that a resident who needed respiratory care, including tracheostomy care and suctioning, actually received that care. The facility was fined $10,000. Because the home did not appeal, the penalty was reduced by 35 percent, to $6,500.
The nurse at the center of the allegations, Manning, also faced criminal and licensing consequences. She was charged with felony wanton neglect of a resident of a health care facility. Manning later pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of misdemeanor wanton neglect. In a separate action with the Iowa Board of Nursing, Manning agreed to indefinitely suspend her practice of nursing.
