[TsunamiKim]

Sorry about all the typos, so tired, Kim.

[TNNURSE]

TsunamiKim,
I am suppost to receive their "decision" this week I believe.I am not like "holding my breath".As far as a paper trail....they provided me a paer trail. One...the numerous numerous complimentary emails they sent me, the promotions,the letters for my promotion only weeks before I was fired.Then I have the NM on tape...lying.So....I feel like....."let them explain to a judge",They have given me so many "versions" of stuff.I am asking for clarification.If it werent so serious it would be comical.But the papertrail....they provided it. The rest is up to my atty .
I am so sorry tsunami Kim......but ...I know you did not just say that you were taking care of Level 1 patients and on over 12 hour shifts...understaffed,...with documentation of jcaho violations.....and they ask you to take a psych exam?????OMG.....I am sorry Id have my atty tear into them.I would.......Have you obtained an atty?

[TsunamiKim]

TNNURSE,

Stupid fool me, I tried to work things out through the system first. Chain of command to the Managers who fired me, then actually believed their HR dept would uncover the truth, like they might actually care. Then I resorted to their internal Compliance Line and was so polite and understanding when they told me that ludicrous crap about how they could not investigate any retaliation issues until after the Hospital had completely finished retaliating! Because I had a Union I trusted them to represent me and appeal to the Hospital on my behalf for access to all the documentation I naively thought I was entitled to. That was really ridiculous as it left me with zero proper representation, fighting fake charges that I was denied access to any full written documentation of. Meanwhile my employee files were constantly being tampered with and shown to internal and external agencies behind my back adjusted as necessary to fit the specific needs of the moment and support the corrupt process of my removal by discrediting me!
Then I fought the war of attrition through contacting those agencies that are in place to supposedly protect the public interest: EEOC, the Maryland Commission on Human Relations, JACHO, MIEMSS, the Maryland Board of Nursing. Each and every one of them betrayed the public trust and protected the special interests of my iconic Hospital which is the largest, most powerful employer in the state of Maryland. David and Goliath had nothing on me; it was pathetic. Yes there is documentation to support much of what I tried to present and prove, but my Hospital has total ownership of all the evidence and they are keeping it very tightly under wraps. The public agencies would not even attempt to access the evidence and look at it properly, let alone do anything. I could not go through it with them to point out obvious discrepancies and dangerous irregularities because I was totally barred from any access even to the bogus charges against me personally.
All of these agencies focused on reviewing the lies that were being dumped into my revolving door personnel file that I was lot allowed to see but they had full access to behind my back. It went like this: “we have seen evidence that you harassed and threatened your OR Manager.” I would ask to see the evidence, but each and every time I was told that they could not show anything to me as the Hospital had prohibited my access to all documents that they owned. They would say it was to protect my accusers from me! When I asked for them to submit the exact wording used without the names attached they refused this too. My Hospital won an award for “transparency,” but they couldn’t even give me one direct quote from one of the lies used to fire me. I am sure you can understand why I am angered by this hypocrisy and why I have completely lost faith in any semblance of “justice” in America! I even contacted both of my Maryland Senators and my Congressman, but they have proved equally helpless so far; initially they just kept saying that they couldn’t interfere with that corrupt HR process. American justice took on a whole new meaning for me.
Then after 8months and pressure from the Labour Board my Hospital was finally forced to show me copies of 3 suppressed letters that had been deliberately misinterpreted to me as “letters of outrage.” If my Hospital had nothing to hide I kept wondering why they could never provide one scrap of paper that gave complete details of what I had supposedly done. They preferred to keep things vague so that they could keep changing and embellishing the fake charges and I would have no idea what I was fighting. How do you prove that you didn’t do something that you didn’t do if there are no details given of when these acts supposedly occurred? When my Union rep read the pathetic obviously solicited letters they agreed to go to Arbitration. They basically said things like “she sat filling out time sheets, she asked me this and that, she said she was being falsely accused and forced out of her job.” One said “she was visibly not happy;” very true. How would she feel after 2weeks of forced time off without pay and a mortgage that consumed half your pay check? Nothing described in the letters appeared to justify the incomprehensible subjective feelings tacked on the end, but hey that was what they could bully out of the staff.
They were never asked to detail in writing what I had actually said or done and the first time they were questioned directly on the specifics it in front of me where there comments could no longer be manipulated by Management was 15months latter at my Arbitration. At the very end of all 3 letters was a seemingly disconnected subjective comment: “I felt intimidated,” I felt threatened.” This “threatened” employee was the one who 15 months later testified that my “arms were folded” and I had my hands on my hips in an aggressive posture. The “intimidated” employee said I was “loud,” but then proceeded to give a pathetic demonstration of perfectly normal speech in a regular tone of voice. I bear these employees absolutely no ill will as I know that they were deceitfully tricked and manipulated to do the dirty work for corrupt Managers; they are victims too. They were scared for their jobs as all three very were new (2months) or temporary employees. One was the new personal secretary to the Director of Surgical Nursing who lied under oath. I wish I could tell them all how I genuinely feel about the intimidating and awkward position they were placed in and enlist their support in bringing the truth into the open once and for all. I worry that they may well be plagued by feelings of guilt and not realize that I understand their impossible predicament.
The last of the letter writers said that my questions, inquiries had made him feel “uncomfortable.” This last witness, an office temp, was not called at my Arbitration, but I doubt that he would have just felt “uncomfortable” if he had witnessed me screaming life threatening dictates at the Director of Surgical Nursing as she had falsely accused in such graphic horror at my hearing. If it had occurred she could have fired me on the spot with three witnesses to support her actions, I would have been marched out of the building immediately no questions asked. But it never happened. That is why there is no written account, no documentation of any kind, there was no comment to other OR Managers and there was no call to Security to support this harrowing tale which thankfully the Arbitrator said was “not credible.” However, no one became in the least bit suspicious about why such a high ranking Manager, the Director of Surgical Nursing at the “best Hospital in America,” needed to lie under oath to secure the removal of a subordinate?
Before agreeing to Arbitration I asked my Union if I was going into “Binding Arbitration,” but on several occasions they had insisted it was not binding: they lied. I even asked questions in letters sent to the Union Lawyer about what I could present at Arbitration that I might need to present latter in court; still they never warned me I was giving up any right to go to court in the future. They never bothered to read anything I gave them anyway and they very emphatically dictated just what I could and could not mention at Arbitration. They dismantled 99% of my case and I felt I was going into Arbitration “bound and gagged” by my own Lawyer. His defense was essentially that the very bad thing I did was not so bad! The only reason I even considered going ahead with it was that I thought if it was not binding I had nothing to loose and after it was out the way if they ruled against me that the Compliance Line would finally step in to protect me from retaliation even if it was after the retaliation had succeeded in destroying my career. No one at the Arbitration hearing even mentioned if the ruling would be binding and I was the only idiot in the room who had no idea I was being trapped into eternal silence by foregoing the possibility of having my day in court.
I was shocked when my Hospital openly admitted to leaving me stranded in Surgery for 8, 10 and 12hours without a break; they made it all sound so normal, so thoroughly average and acceptable. This severely negligent admission and the feeble excuse that condoned it, “the ER was busy” and I didn’t ask for a break, is now documented in writing through my final Arbitration ruling. However, it is rendered totally useless as I can never go to court. This was precisely the reason why they freely admitted to gross negligence: so that it could never be raised at any other hearing ever again. By weathering the storm at my binding Arbitration they would never have to defend their negligent practices in a court of law. Knowing that the Arbitration was binding they skillfully manipulated the situation beautifully to deny me my rights. I could probably testify if I was subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury or if this OR negligence was significant to another negligence case where a patient was harmed. If that ever happens I will be on a plane back to the US in a heartbeat even if I have beg, borrow or stow away to get there.
My Lawyer certainly did an excellent job of representing the Hospital’s best interests. When the Director of Surgical Nursing got up and lied under oath and he didn’t even bring back the witnesses who could have easily refuted what she said. He then put my guilt in writing no less than three times in his written summation to the Arbitrator which he then refused to show me until after the Arbitrator had ruled against me. I waited for an entire year for the Arbitrator to rule against me, but under those circumstances it would have taken a miracle for him to rule in my favor. Then I discovered quite by accident that I had been tricked into binding Arbitration. I do not see him as blameless though since he should have begun by reminding us all that his ruling would be binding and would preclude any further recourse to seek justice. Anyway, I spent money I didn’t have to consult a lawyer and she said we had to make sure the Arbitration was not binding. I got back in touch with my Union and they gave me a copy of the most recent handbook and there it was in black and white. I wanted to bring an official complaint against my Lawyer’s unethical practice with the Maryland Bar Association, but by this time I was in serious debt and about to loose my house.
Now I thought I still had recourse to that interminably postponed Compliance Line investigation; not! What a fool I had been, they had lied to me as well. So there you have it, how to destroy your own career 101. I only hope that be exposing the traps that I fell for I can warn others. I will never have any legal recourse to justice at any point in the future. Even if the press did a revealing investigation that exposed the entire corrupt affair I have been forced to endure my former Hospital would not be responsible for compensating me for the complete destruction of my life in America. If your Atty thinks there is a way to fight Goliath I would love to hear about it. Despite the lack of any hope of regaining my home or being able to pay off the huge debts I was forced to walk away from in the States I am still determined to fight this injustice until the day I die.
I have remained in contact with all of my credit card companies after I informed them of why I had taken on debts confident of my reinstatement with back-pay. I never lied to them about my situation and I maintained a PO box where mail is forwarded to me in the UK. In the end I had neither the money nor the support to file for bankruptcy, but I have never denied it was my debt and my responsibility to pay it. Some have offered generous reductions which I sincerely appreciate, but even this is beyond me as my situation is hopeless. I will obviously never be able to own property again, but right now I am scared to ever become attached to anything again. Because of the debts I can never own a credit card again, so when I work as a volunteer in far flung places overseas I will never have the security of being able to just use a credit card to buy a plane ticket back to the UK in an emergency. I cannot even get travel and medical insurance while I am overseas; I just take a big risk and hope for the best. I have learned to stop caring about security, comfort or possessions now; I feel lucky to have escaped. I’m happiest living a very simple life working as a medical volunteer and sleeping in my hammock/tent. Not much to loose when you get back to the basics.
I want to finally clear my name and put an end to the ongoing damage to my reputation. As it is I cannot apply to one of the NGOs to gain their support for my humanitarian work in Aceh as my credibility is shot to pieces. I would like to have the full support of my prestigious former Hospital behind me when I try to petition NGOs to invest in my emergency preparedness plan; instead I am afraid to even mention that I worked for five years in the OR at the “best Hospital in America” in case they uncover the fact that I was fired for reasons that bordered on criminal behavior. These unsubstantiated lies have now been written into fact through the endorsement of that Kangaroo court their HR dept put me through, the so called “unbiased” mediation done by EEOC with behind closed door viewing of fabricated documents and the bogus final ruling of an Arbitrator. The refused or swiftly abandoned “investigations” of several public agencies and the refusal of the Compliance Line to investigate prop up the legitimacy of one another as they help to deny any accountability for the negligence or retaliation committed by my former Hospital.
Even here in the UK this continues to negatively impact my future. The lies used to fire me may still prevent me from joining the Association of Operating Department Practitioners here in the UK once I am otherwise eligible as there are ethical conduct standards that must be met. This would mean I could never work in the OR again anywhere in Europe. However, it simply would never occur to a British agency that the HR process at the top Hospital in America could possibly by corrupt. They naturally assume that all those “freedoms” Americans go on about actually exist and that due process is afforded to everyone in the workplace. They also have difficulty believing the lack of employment regulations to prevent abuse in the workplace, the “at will” firing etc. This is not humanly possible in Europe and they assume thing are so much better in the States. The cynicism of many US friends is not shared by people here who have no concept of the horrendous level of corruption in the US fueled by corporate greed. If anything the damage to my credibility is far worse here because of this false confidence in a system the Brits have no knowledge of.
I am too disgusted to ever return to the US, but here in England where I was born I must subsist on welfare because I cannot yet work in a UK Hospital. At least as a volunteer in Asia I could do some good and return to the OR. I honestly do not care if I ever earn a bean again, because as I said, I am afraid to ever own anything. This is distressing for my family as I resist them ever giving me something of value to treasure as I have lost all trust in the safety of my future. I continue to exist, but I no longer feel alive; that is what was done to me in America. This is the saddest time of year for me as I am haunted by the betrayal and the loss of everything I had worked for in over twenty years in the US. I have seriously considered burning my American passport in front of the US embassy in London to make a statement about the corruption and injustice in the US. All I can say is avoid the traps that I fell for, do not allow you Hospital to stall for time and trust no one! All internal and public agencies let me down, the politicians have not done anything yet and even my own Lawyer betrayed me. I hope you will fare better than I did, just be warned,

Fair Winds & Following Seas, Kim.

[TNNURSE]

TsunamiKim,
I am so sorry all this horrible stuff happened to you.I dont understand alot about nsg unions bc I have never been a memeber of one.But...you say arbitration means that you give up your right to prosecute in court?That ...doesnt sound legal...

As far as me...I am going to allow them to notify me of their "investigation findings"-probably a sham. Then....its time for a court date as far as both myself and my atty are concerned.Honestly....I am starting to get more cynical about this hospital every day. I want to believe that they would "do the right thing"...but so far....I have just been disappointed. I am still so "niave" in this whole thing that I still feel bad for their atty who will be the one left to face this judge and state "yes...judge...I know the HCF I represent documented "X"....and I am really so sorry about that.BC .."X" is a lie....but pleassseeeee believe us when we say "Y" is true". I am just not a mean person. I didnt start this whole thing in that "spirit"....what I did I have done "in the spirirt of trying to help my coworkers and trying to ensure patient safety".Nothing more. For that me and my family have paid dearly. I didnt get the option of COBRA INSURANCE, lost my retirement, the emotional loss of security of a job I had invested alot of "me" into. Having to bring this forward...isnt something I am happy about...I didnt ask to witness what I saw.....I didnt ask to be retaliated against to be silenced either. But my patient...and her family...her children.....didnt ask for what this nurse did to them either. And...thats kinda where I draw the line...I have a hx of it there.I may like ya....but if you are praticing at a level below competency I am gonna keep talking till someone listens and resolves it.I cant change who I am. :icon_lol:

[Soleilpie]

TsunamiKim
I don't know anything about arbitrations but how can it be legally binding if one of the parties is unaware that it's binding? Shouldn't you have been asked to sign a document stating that you knowingly give up your right to ever present your case in court? I truly am sorry for what happened to you. I really hope there's a way to fix all of this!

[TNNURSE]

Originally Posted by Soleilpie

TsunamiKim
I don't know anything about arbitrations but how can it be legally binding if one of the parties is unaware that it's binding? Shouldn't you have been asked to sign a document stating that you knowingly give up your right to ever present your case in court? I truly am sorry for what happened to you. I really hope there's a way to fix all of this!

Soleipie...Thats kinda what I was wondering.If she didnt sign anything stating it was a "final uncontested" decision"...then it can not be legal. Surely?Tsunami Kim,...did they provide you with documentation of any type that stated by going thru this arbitration process that you gave up all legal avenues?se...this is what I hate about this ongoing problem with these HCF...they dont "see" the patient....they dont "see" the nurse/RT/ or even the MD. They dont see anything....unethical acts...immoral acts...or even illegal acts.I am just in awe of how so many nurses and physicians are kinda scammed by their employers.How can....any of this kinda stuff not be making it into the publics eye? Employers need to realize we take care of "patients who are people ...not equipment.When there is a pt safety issue you dont shut up the complaining party....you really investigate ...and really take action!Bc...otherwise...the next time you are in Maryland ...you could be in a car accident in TsunamiKims hospital district...that could be you waiting to go into the OR....that OR gurney that TsunamiKim complained about never being cleaned.....might be the one you are lying on while they slice open your leg to fix that fx.When...you get that infection that either takes your leg/or yourlife...then it will be very important that TsunamiKims concerns were never heard.I swear ....with some of the stories I have heard...it is like ....it is going to take some major event happening before the public cries out...and are outraged over what has happened to nurses in healthcare.

"Pretty much any nurse can gain competency thru trial and error eventually (no orientation to the job) ...but is it ethically correct to ALLOW that to happen? No...no its not. BC...it may be your family member they say "Oops...mental note to self....DONT do that again!"...Every patient in every bed...is someones mother brother/father/sister/child.They are someone to somebody.

[panhandler]

Have you lost sight of the big picture?
You forfeit your rights as a citizen when you work for the Medical-Industrial complex.
Without a written contract (which probably would pre-empt your getting a job offer....duh) you have no "rights" --- none at all, not even those espoused by law.

I have been burned badly by the M-I complex.

The corruption is evident to you (now!) but it is wide and deep throughout the industry. It is driven by MONEY. THe place that forced me to resign using a kangaroo court and fabrication has an ANNUAL LEGAL BUDGET of 400 Million dollars!! Business as usual.

Lobbyists work hard to preserve the MONEY flow to this corrupt system. This in turn corrupts our only protection, the LAW. There is only marginal gain at best using the LAW to expose the retaliations you have suffered.

The Medical Industry wants ICU nurses to be inexperienced, tractable lackeys of its corrupt system.
You can earn a great living there (sacrificing by prolapsing internal organs, galaxy-class headaches and varicosities) but you must be MOUSY. At any time (i.e. when your little 3% raise crosses the line they set) you can be fired for NO REASON.

Administrators of working nurses are excellent liars and/or completely delusional.

I have left the sandbox of callow fools, perhaps for the last time. I am accomplished in the art and science of clinical nursing, yet I have been tossed out on my keester.

Devalued? you bet! Overworked? you bet! Dehumanized? you bet! THe medical system as we know it treats NONHUMANS with far more compassion than its regular human clientele. We know when to put our animals down. We don't keep them alive to fatten the purses of our employers.

It's depressing, if you let it be -- My next "paying" job might be at hospice. However, my ex-employer has spread its poison to my future employers --- lying about their actions of course -- duh!... a few of my "girls" sent me notes, saying "sorry I didn't get to say goodbye..." -- Oh to be a fly on the wall....

The pendulum may not swing back in my lifetime. The hospital system here in the South (i.e., FL and TX) desperately needs a KILLING FROST....

Again, who has the cujones to take on this problem. Do you, TNN?

[TNNURSE]

Panhandler,..
I am not really sure what you are asking? if you are asking if I intend to bring my case to a judge...you bet I am.If I am forced to...if this HCF does nothing.Am I getting more active in my Nsg association?yes! Yes I am....but...since I am so "new" to this type problem I dont know what else to do.What else can I do?Do you have any ideas?According to my atty I have to offer them a chance to "make right" a "wrong". When I receive the results of their internal investigation I can proceed.If they do nothing....and opt to stand behind their lying NM and her cohort.........then I will just set a court date and let them explain it to a judge.My case is very different than alot I have heard.I have written documentation from the NM that is a 180 from what the NM states on my exit interview tape.Along with many many other concrete lies that are easily proved by concrete evidence I have. So....there is no way to avoid the fact that she has lied many many times.It is a direct violation of their Code of Conduct and ethics...and Risk Managements policy on retaliation against employees also...in addition to state statutes/ and laws.So...if they do not remove that NM and Nurse...then it will be a fiasco for them in court....bc .....I am not going away.I didnt "ask" for this.....I did the right thing ethically , morally and legally and got illegally fired for it. Do you have a union in Florida?If so do they add additional protections for nurses? Do you have any ideas as to what we...as nurses....can do?

[TsunamiKim]

In answer to your question TNNURSE I think it would be helpful to clarify this Arbitration issue as I hope I may persuade those confronted by a similar option to be more cautious than I was. Arbitration can be either binding or non-binding. If it is binding then both parties agree to abide by the final decision as made by the Arbitrator; if non-binding then there are other recourses open to either side if they feel the final decision was unjust. I was told about this by my friend who is an Attorney, but if I had not known what to ask, no one bothered to tell me. If anyone reading this is about to go into an Arbitration hearing you must ascertain this first: is your Arbitration non-binding or is it binding? It is too late to discover this after the fact, but do not trust a regular Union rep to just tell you, you must see it in writing in your Union handbook or better still have it clarified by the Arbitrator at the beginning of your hearing. My knowledge of the rules one way or the other would have relied on my reading a Union employee handbook, knowing what to find and where to look for it. It would have also relied on my complete understanding of the relevance and implications of entering into binding Arbitration; I only hope other employees receive better information and support from their Union than I did. BE WARNED: if your Union employee handbook states that all of their Arbitration rulings are binding that means no legal recourse for wrongful termination if you do not succeed at your Arbitration hearing.
I had also presented written questions and suggestions regarding my case and how it would be handled to my Union Lawyer. It was pretty obvious from these notes to ascertain that I had every intention of bringing a case against the Hospital, but I doubt anyone bothered to read my notes so I was never informed that I was about to abandon all future options to legal recourse. The Lawyer appointed by the Union was so hostile towards me that I nearly backed out of the Arbitration. He tried to get me to agree to make a financial settlement without fighting for reinstatement. I said it was a matter of principal and told him that I was also aware of the example my case gave to other outspoken Hospital employees. He insisted that no one cared about my principals; I do, I live by them! He would not let me mention unresolved pay discrepancies that predated my removal and were just written off. He wouldn’t allow me to raise the issue of the times that I was left stranded in Surgery, the manipulation of my schedule to force me to take time off without pay, the ignored letters of appeal that predated the disciplinary process and multiple acts of retaliation that followed. I felt he was not really fighting for my reinstatement just the pay deal to silence me.
I literally had to tell my Union Lawyer that I was not prepared to lie under oath to cover up any of these relevant facts that obscured the real truth behind my wrongful termination. When he asked if I had any prior minor disciplines I truthfully said no I defiantly did not. But, there among the documents finally sent to us from HR were two violations I had never seen before; two minor rule violations I saw for the very first time 15months after I was fired. I have no idea when they were written and inserted into my file or who they had been shown to as there had been absolutely no mention of these disciplinary counseling incidents up until that point a few days before my hearing. There was no documentation beyond the basic charge on the minor violations so I had no idea what had been used to justify these violations, but that was quite normal for them. They did not have to bear my signature although I was supposed to have received counseling by my Manager; this disciplinary counseling couldn’t have happened without my knowledge. I demonstrated a consistent pattern of providing written explanations and challenges whenever false accusations were presented, but in 15months there was no mention of these incidents at all by Management or by me.
At my Arbitration the Union Lawyer barely even contested the validity of these late insertions telling me that they weren’t really relevant. Big mistake, they were a major part of the Arbitrator’s final decision to rule against me as they falsely supported the OR Manager’s contention that there was a “pattern of behavior” for which I had been warned in disciplinary counseling several times. They were also sighted by the Maryland Commission in justifying their decision to deny my case. I would have been so much better off representing myself at Arbitration without the Union Lawyer’s unpleasant, rude, obstructive interference. I know I asked the Union more than once about the binding/non-binding issue, but the Lawyer must have known from my notes that it was going to be a problem. He said nothing and let me walk straight into a trap. At the beginning of the hearing certain things were agreed to, tape recording of testimony, sequestration of witnesses, this is when we should all have been reminded that we were about to enter into binding Arbitration, but no one said a thing about it. I am sure the Hospital knew and they made excellent mileage out of it.
I was completely unaware and would also have assumed that if nothing was said and nothing was signed then what I had been told by my Union was obviously correct and it would not to be a binding decision. I need not have wasted money attempting to hire a Lawyer if I had only known the truth. The Lawyer insisted that before we could proceed I must first check the union rules handbook, if she hadn’t said this I wouldn’t have even known where to look! I was probably issued one of the handbooks when I began my job at the Hospital, but who reads through all that stuff? Because I had specifically asked about whether the Arbitration was binding, I felt deeply betrayed that they had given me incorrect information. I can understand some of the Union people not knowing about the rules of Arbitration, but the Union Lawyer must have known. I must stress, if a Union handbook clearly states that all of their Arbitration rulings are binding that means no legal recourse for wrongful termination if you do not succeed at your Arbitration hearing.
The only totally bizarre idea I have for fighting my case of injustice is so far out in left field that it is probable too obscure to work. My idea is to charge the Hospital with abuse of my human rights. I believe there is a possibility that I could bring such a charge from overseas where they are more likely to view what happened to me as a human rights abuse. As an active member of Amnesty International I am more familiar than most on issues of what does or does not constitute cruel and inhumane treatment and forcing someone to work without food on water for 12hours is in clear violation of the Geneva Convention on the treatment of POWs. It would be viewed by the public as absolutely obscene if America’s medical professionals at one of their top Hospital’s have fewer protections from abuse than POWs, but we must get them to draw this parallel. After all we aren’t helplessly imprisoned by some Despot forced to slave in a chain gang hauling rocks in a third world country; we are doing highly skilled intellectually demanding tasks that require absolute concentration as we take care of critically ill patients. In the US I honestly think that a Hospital employee would have to actually, physically drop down dead at work before they would ever consider it in the least bit significant.
Now here is the interesting thing, I do not think there is any statute of limitations on human rights abuse and the seriousness of making a charge of this kind would I think override the restrictions placed by a civil Arbitration hearing since human rights abuse is a criminal offence. It would be a real jolt for the “best Hospital in America” to face a charge like that and it would be a big wake up call for the entire medical establishment. I doubt that an American Attorney would touch it with a ten foot pole especially if they knew the name of the Hospital. However, a high profile case would create a landmark decision and the courts might start taking these excessive workplace abuse issues more seriously. We must insist that Hospitals rethink their dangerous understaffing strategies as they are unhealthy for staff and in turn increase the potential for patient error. We need to think about how forcing someone to go without water, food or urination for 12hours does qualify as an abuse of that person’s human rights. Scrubbed in the OR is just one circumstance where you are particularly isolated and trapped by the task at hand, completely dependant on your Manager to send in relief so that you do not abandon you patient in the middle of surgery. This makes it the perfect place to highlight what is rapidly becoming a Hospital wide abuse problem in institutions all across the country.
These acts of inhumanity to medical staff are condoned with simplistic references to the “Nursing Shortage;” in my case the “ER was busy,” I didn’t even work in the ER and how many ER patients come to the OR anyway? Then there was the outrageous statement: “she didn’t ask for a break.” Excuse me Your Honor she didn’t ask to be treated as a human being with basic physical needs to protect her own health, safety and well being while doing her highly skilled job! We figured if she screwed up and killed a patient she would take the rap for it, not the Hospital, because that’s what usually happens in these cases. In consideration of this we thought that the risk to her surgical patient was less of a priority than avoiding the expense of calling in a call person to relieve her. Although it says in our employee manual that “your Manager will schedule your break according to the acuity of the unit,” we don’t insist that abusive Managers support their staff by covering them during breaks and we never discipline them for negligence or abuse. My Hospital knew full well that this argument would not go down well in a court of law so they admitted to the abuse in a binding Arbitration hearing knowing that the standard of proof was lower and the issue would be dropped after that.
It is time Managers were held accountable for inflicting standards that constitute intolerable cruelty towards their subordinates not to mention serious health risks. On several occasions my blood sugar was so low I was on the point of collapse. On another occasion a Nurse jokingly offered to insert a Foley catheter so that I wouldn’t need to leave the field or commit the crime of “patient abandonment.” This was an incident I did not even complain about or document because we had 7 ORs running in the middle of the night and our call teams were there. However, looking back on it the OR Manager on call was not called in because they simply never called in a Manager. That night I bleed through my underwear and following that incident I always kept spare underwear in my locker at work. You are cautioned not to leave the same tampon in place for more than 6hours, but I condoned the danger to my health by doing what we are all being guilt tripped into doing: putting the patient first. Meanwhile my Hospital was too negligent to disturb an OR Manager earning call pay to answer questions and offer sympathies from the comfort of her home. I really have to wonder if they would be expected to come into the OR even for a mass casualty? Is it acceptable to put an employee at medical risk due to not calling in a staff member who is being paid to remain on standby to come into the Hospital?
Due to one of the multiple discrepancies in the final ruling on my Arbitration it states that the Hospital admitted leaving me scrubbed for 16hours without a break, an access even I have never tried to claim. To imagine that anyone functioning as an Arbitrator might consider such extremes acceptable just shows how morally bankrupt American society has become. What about my critically ill OR patient on bypass during transplant surgery? Simple if I screwed up they could have nailed me for it. That Arbitrator taped the proceedings, documented the facts on his laptop and then took over a year to come to a final decision. However, the standard of proof was so appalling that serious errors appear written into fact including harassing phone calls I was supposed to have made at times when I was on patient’s record as being scrubbed into surgery! No one has ever examined the facts, questioned the multiple inconsistencies or allowed me a decent standard of due process. From the outside this lack of proof issue isn’t taken into account and the credibility of this Arbitrators flawed decision may continue to sabotage my future medical career.
It is high time the courts examined the “patient abandonment” issue, stopped targeting individual exhausted medical professionals and focused on the real offenders: those whose deliberate understaffing represents the most serious ongoing case of “patient abandonment.” Why must we wait until an exhausted practitioner makes a mistake so that their preventable errors can be put under the microscope and they can be penalized for an act of negligence that was perfectly understandable considering the inhume circumstances they are forced to tolerate. Nurses have allowed themselves to become the medical establishment’s scapegoats for too long. We must put corporate greed on trial by exposing the highly questionable profiteering policies that are inhumane to staff and place patients at risk. Will the abuse ever end? I don’t know, but I am not going to stop fighting for justice. Stay strong and do not give up,

Fair Winds & Following Seas, Kim.

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An excellent case that more fully explains why I personally am against unionization. You may get certain things by being unionized, but you lose certain other things.