LA Times - Problem nurses stay on the job as patients suffer

Jul 11, 2009 02:23 PM

by Getgoing

Updated Jul 11, 2009 at 06:38 PM by sirI

From the LA Times - July 12, 2009
Problem nurses stay on the job as patients suffer

Problem nurses stay on the job as patients suffer

California's oversight board often takes years to mete out discipline for egregious misconduct, leaving the public unaware of the risk.
By Charles Ornstein, Tracy Weber and Maloy Moore

July 12, 2009

Nurse Owen Jay Murphy Jr. twisted the jaw of one patient until he screamed.

He picked up another one -- an elderly, frail man -- by the shoulders, slammed him against a mattress and barked, "I said, 'Stay in bed.' "

He ignored the alarms on vital-sign monitors in the emergency room, shouted at co-workers and once hurled a thirsty patient's water jug against the wall, yelling, "How do you like your water now?" according to state records.

Murphy's fellow nurses at Kaiser Permanente Riverside Medical Center finally pleaded with their bosses for help. "They were afraid of him," a hospital spokesman said.

Continued here

*caliotter3* · Jul 11, 2009, 07:14 PM

Re: LA Times - Problem nurses stay on the job as patients suffer

Supervisors and management turn their eyes to bad behavior on the job every day, so it is not surprising to read of the attitude of the Board not being so hasty to investigate and take action. A bureaucracy isn't a good bureaucracy if it does not move as slowly as possible.

Vito Andolini · Jul 11, 2009, 09:15 PM

Re: LA Times - Problem nurses stay on the job as patients suffer

Well, I read the whole article and I am appalled but not surprised.

California apparently needs to double or maybe quadruple its BON and speed up these hearings. Of course, the state is bankrupt right now.

Of course, the article leaves out, as so many articles do, what, if any, steps were taken to inform law enforcement of things like violence toward patients. The BON is not the only agency that needs to be involved. How about the Prosecuting Attorney and police?

*caliotter3* · Jul 11, 2009, 09:20 PM

Re: LA Times - Problem nurses stay on the job as patients suffer

The CA BRN does not even have enough personnel to answer the phones, respond to mail, or respond to email, so how can they be expected to accomplish anything else? The article didn't paint a very good picture of Terry. With that kind of an attitude, no wonder the rest of the department doesn't take anything seriously.

rph3664 · Jul 12, 2009, 09:33 AM

Re: LA Times - Problem nurses stay on the job as patients suffer

Did anyone read the comments at the end of the article? A lot of them said that his co-workers should have been dealing with law enforcement now and then the BON later. Had this been done, he would have been gone IMMEDIATELY.

You can't act that way at, say, a pizza restaurant or an insurance company and get away with it!

It's always possible that there's more to the story - that he's related to someone in Congress, that sort of thing, and that's why facilities were reluctant to do anything about him.

dhammo01 · Jul 12, 2009, 10:39 AM

Re: LA Times - Problem nurses stay on the job as patients suffer

[quote=rph3664;3738869]Did anyone read the comments at the end of the article?

I read some of the comments too.

*Anxious Patient* · Jul 12, 2009, 10:39 AM

Re: LA Times - Problem nurses stay on the job as patients suffer

This is so unbelievable that the nurse featured in the article is still working with an unrestricted license with his brutal history with patients. How can he keep finding job after job and then I read on this site the many sad stories of nurses getting layed off, and new nurses not being able to find a job. How does the nursing board (and also the physician medical board) get away with their casual response to malfeasance. Letting some of their members ignore laws of civility that the rest of society is expected to follow.

Here is the nurse's rap sheet per the nursing board. The charges and allegations were documented as far back as 2004. They can be found at the bottom of page 4 of the file.

http://rn.ca.gov/public/rn594614.pdf

DManAZRN · Jul 12, 2009, 12:55 PM

Re: LA Times - Problem nurses stay on the job as patients suffer

Maybe the California State Board of Nursing can give out disciplinary IOU's
That is if there are any employees actually coming to their state jobs.... that
pay in "thank you for showing up today"s'

BTW, I don't think ANY MEDIA source can be trusted anymore. Not that I watch,
but I would NOT read the NY or the LA times, sorry.... (ambulance chasing media?)

Hey are newspapers still in business?
Haven't we run out of trees yet?

*SharonH, RN* · Jul 12, 2009, 01:50 PM

Re: LA Times - Problem nurses stay on the job as patients suffer

Originally Posted by Vito Andolini

Well, I read the whole article and I am appalled but not surprised.

California apparently needs to double or maybe quadruple its BON and speed up these hearings. Of course, the state is bankrupt right now.

Of course, the article leaves out, as so many articles do, what, if any, steps were taken to inform law enforcement of things like violence toward patients. The BON is not the only agency that needs to be involved. How about the Prosecuting Attorney and police?

I agree. In the example above, the nurse should have been escorted out in handcuffs when he assaulted the elderly man instead of being fired and allowed to work elsewhere and assault two more people.

DolceVita · Jul 12, 2009, 02:12 PM

Re: LA Times - Problem nurses stay on the job as patients suffer

I read the whole thing. A pretty well researched article. Why would a hospital or facility not instigate criminal proceedings as well as firing the abusive nurse?

I hope my BON isn't that lax.

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LA Times - Problem nurses stay on the job as patients suffer

LA Times - Problem nurses stay on the job as patients suffer

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