Lawsuit Claims Nurse Was 'Worked to Death'

Nurses General Nursing

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An Ohio man whose wife died in a car accident earlier this year is suing the hospital where she was a nurse, claiming she was "worked to death," and that the hospital knew about it.

Jim Jasper's wife, Beth, was killed on March 16 while driving home after a 12-hour shift.

The wrongful death lawsuit, filed last week, alleges that from 2011 to the time of her death, Beth Jasper's unit at the Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati was "regularly understaffed," causing some nurses, including Jasper, to work through breaks and pick up additional shifts.

Additionally, Jasper was routinely called into work while off duty because she was one of the few nurses qualified to work the unit's dialysis machines, according to the suit...

Reporter: In a statement, the hospital would only say. Our hearts go out to the family. We do not comment on pending litigation.

A nationwide shortage of nurses has created a dangerous situation. According to the ANA, one in ten nurses say they were involved in an exhaustion-related car accident. They're going to have to show that it would be reasonably foreseeable that the actions of the employer, would lead to the death of the employee.

Full Story and Video: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/ohio-husband-sues-hospital-working-wife-death-20886095

additional coverage:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/video/lawsuit-claims-nurse-worked-death-20878382

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/12/health/ohio-nurse-worked-to-death-lawsuit-says/

Nurses, what do you think about this story? Reply with your opinions. Have you been involved in an exhaustion-related car accident?

Specializes in Geriatric.

Yes everyday. I work the night shift and nurses don't come to work until 0930 or later or sometimes they don't show up. I am always worried no one will relieve me and I end up staying. I drive one hour away and there have been numerous times I nearly got in to an accident. Employers don't care and they get upset when you tell them you can't come back the next night after working 16 hours (11-7 to 7-3).

YES!!! JC definetly needs to look at staffing ratios! There is enough evidence to support the fact that there is a significant safety issue here...

Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
Employers don't care and they get upset when you tell them you can't come back the next night after working 16 hours (11-7 to 7-3).

I let them be upset; rather, I don't CARE about them being upset; never did; I need my rest, and my life.

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
YES!!! JC definetly needs to look at staffing ratios! There is enough evidence to support the fact that there is a significant safety issue here...
They have...the hospitals don't care and they "average" out to be inline with needs. Hospital Nurse Staffing and Quality of Care | Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ)

http://www.jointcommission.org/assets/1/18/RWJ_Future_of_Nursing.pdf

Specializes in NICU, PICU, PACU.

Luckily my hospital doesn't mandate. And we did get called on our staffing from JC...know what came out of that? We now "huddle" with L/D and the postpartum floors...we all say what our census is, what are staffing needs to be and what we have. We ask each other...do you have a float for me? No? Okay, that solves zilch. But it satisfied JC that we are problem solving. Whatever. We always have people staying over.

Specializes in Public Health, L&D, NICU.
Luckily my hospital doesn't mandate. And we did get called on our staffing from JC...know what came out of that? We now "huddle" with L/D and the postpartum floors...we all say what our census is, what are staffing needs to be and what we have. We ask each other...do you have a float for me? No? Okay, that solves zilch. But it satisfied JC that we are problem solving. Whatever. We always have people staying over.

That rarely works, it seems. In our L&D, I was the ONLY nurse who was qualified to float to NICU, so I stayed ticked off for those couple of months every year when NICU was overflowing. Conversely, there was one nurse who was qualified to actually come to L&D and function. Everyone could go to Postpartum and Well Baby and function. So if you were in L&D or NICU, you worked a ton of hours to cover your own shortages, and then you got to cover Postpartum's and Well Baby's shortages, too. But if they were low in census, they got to go home! To crown this crappy situation, we L&D nurses had to take call also. We certainly got the shaft going and coming.

I used to work for a repo company cleaning out nasty cars that were usually filled with bodily fluids of some kind and used needles, in a dirt lot, in downtown Phoenix, where it would routinely rise above 120F during the summer.

I remember it was a Monday afternoon. Ambient air temperature was 112F, the interior of this 2004 Ford Focus was 135F. While I was scooping out this unfortunate car that had rotting food and dirty diapers inside of it I thought to myself, why?

So I left.

As a nurse now, if I do not like the conditions in which I work, I leave. It may not be easy to find other employment, it may not be fun, but if you do not like the conditions of your employment then stop enabling those conditions. Turnover is expensive for a facility, make it hurt to be stupid.

That's nice... so put up or shut up...yeah it's as easy as that. That's the problem with nursing or any industry here and now. I like how you put the spin on it that it would hurt the facility if you leave. There are plenty of people lined up for the job that they don't even know about current conditions. THat doesn't make it right. And, yes, right does matter. It matters to all of us. Don't enable those conditions that make you live a life in the dirt. Stand together to make a change with every job in US. Don't support an environment that drags others down into bad working conditions. To accept it or retreat is giving up. It's not leaving nursing that is the answer, it is stopping the crap that is making it intolerable/dirt that is.

Im a day nurse. Night shift nurses need extra care. Those nurses rock! Yeah, I get my fair share of crap that they don't deal with but to deal with your whole body going against what it usually needs to do.... I totally respect night nurses. Because of current changes they are dealing with a lot more now. So they get the stress we go through (more so because of less resources) on top of the physical differential. THEY don't get paid enough! Patients don't just sleep. They are sick. A sleeping patient is scary, which is why I check in so often on my day patients. "Hey, how you doing?! you OK? What's you're name? ... lol

I totally get the work to death situation for many nurses.

Specializes in LTC, Education, Management, QAPI.

While I agree with the statement by libran1984, part of the issue isn't that the company doesnt want to staff, it's that they cant with the income they run. It is a business, and it must make money to stay afloat. Until the facilities that have high medicare and medicaid incomes get enough money to hire more, they won't. Doesnt matter if it is right or wrong because the alternative will be that the nursing homes will close. As much as they have a bad rep, they are needed. And yes, many of them make millions or even billions, but not all of them. We need MANDATED staffing patterns for nursing homes, not just suggested minimums (esp. in VA), and we need the COST of healthcare items to come down so that the money can be spent on staff salary, not $50.00 for a 0.25 oz can of skin prep spray. I mean really! So, again, I agree with you, but there are other reasons (poor ones) that need fixed. How do we do this? TALK TO YOUR POLITICIANS!!! Lawsuits are not the way to go- good nurses get screwed in lawsuits, and no changes take place- only money exchanges.

Specializes in Public Health, L&D, NICU.
While I agree with the statement by libran1984, part of the issue isn't that the company doesnt want to staff, it's that they cant with the income they run. It is a business, and it must make money to stay afloat. Until the facilities that have high medicare and medicaid incomes get enough money to hire more, they won't. Doesnt matter if it is right or wrong because the alternative will be that the nursing homes will close. As much as they have a bad rep, they are needed. And yes, many of them make millions or even billions, but not all of them. We need MANDATED staffing patterns for nursing homes, not just suggested minimums (esp. in VA), and we need the COST of healthcare items to come down so that the money can be spent on staff salary, not $50.00 for a 0.25 oz can of skin prep spray. I mean really! So, again, I agree with you, but there are other reasons (poor ones) that need fixed. How do we do this? TALK TO YOUR POLITICIANS!!! Lawsuits are not the way to go- good nurses get screwed in lawsuits, and no changes take place- only money exchanges.

I definitely agree that hospitals aren't reimbursed adequately, but I don't believe they are good stewards of the money they do have. The last hospital I worked at paid a couple of people a lot of money to organize events within the facility. Really, is this necessary? That's two salaries that could go towards nursing. Physicians were provided daily with elaborate meals for free. I don't begrudge them food, but why not give them a credit in the cafeteria? Why provide them special food? Or if you have to give them special food, does it have to be all the time? When there are layoffs, it's always in patient care, it's never in administration. And administration is teeming with redundant positions. If hospitals were truly interested in giving the best possible care for patients, they could start housecleaning and make some changes that would allow them to give the best possible care. But they don't do it. Instead there are people who's work is really pointless taking up precious salary dollars while nurses are forced to work short and work without CNAs.

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