Nurse fired after online comment about crash - Page 4

Yep, seriously. She clearly posted her full name and said she was an ER nurse. Yuma is a small community. She was stupid, plain and simple. In places like Yuma, everyone knows everyone.

If nurses weren't able to recognize stupid behavior and still deliver competent care to the stupid, we wouldn't have ANYONE to take care of anyone.

This is a tough one. IMO, nurses need to be careful what we post online period. I certainly understand why she was fired, she represents the hospital and sometimes you have to realize it is not just your opinion. Nurses represent their employer and I wouldn't want a nurse working in my hospital with that kind of attitude. No one deserves to die no matter how much they put themselves in harms way.

Yes, the unrealistic view that nurses are somehow super-humans with an endless supply of intelligence and compassion and that one stupid comment posted somewhere automatically means she has neither of those things. That's ridiculous. This woman is a nurse, yes, but she's human, makes mistakes, and can learn from them, just like anyone else. Her opinion of one topic has no bearing on her skills and abilities as a nurse. The comment she made was unprofessional and stupid, and she never should have stated that she was an RN in the comment. That made it look like she was stating the opinion of nurses everywhere and her place of employment. But the assumption that she's a terrible nurse because of one stupid comment is completely out of line. Who here has never said or done something stupid? Anyone here perfect? No? Didn't think so. Are you all bad nurses because of that stupid thing? Of course not. Of course, we don't know. She may be awful. She may be awesome. But that has nothing to do with the statement she made on her town paper's comment board.

Nurses are held up to an unattainable ideal and when one falters, s/he's automatically a villain. That's a big bunch of B.S.

My original point was if people who understand the challenges and joys of nursing can find fault with this comment, then imagine what people who have no clue about nursing must be thinking.

Acting in a professional manner when you *choose* to put on your nurse "hat" is also not an unattainable ideal. Her mistake was not in being a dillhole. Her mistake was in saying she was an ED RN while being a dillhole. Oh, and using her full name. Duh.

Assuming there was no HIPAA violation, it's not an issue of the law. It's an issue of the reputation of the organization Gusta works for. Even in a non-employee at will state, her employer could easily argue that she was fired for cause. If she was a contract employee, that's not even an issue.

We have a right to free speech under the First Amendment with respect to the government. We have no particular right to free speech with respect to any other entity or person (unless it's spelled out in a contract or convention, such as the academic freedom privileges a tenured professor enjoys).

I don't know whether Gusta should have lost her job over the comments, but they were way out of line, and certainly an embarrassment to her employer.

She deserved to lose her job. Sorry. As an employee of the hospital involved, she is a representative of that hospital. She speaks for that hospital, officially or not. Fair or not.
The hospital really had no choice but to fire her. It was a silly mistake. I've said things I've totally, thoroughly regretted 2 minutes after they left my mouth. The difference is the number of people involved. Talking with friends vs posting on the internet.
I'm truly sorry for this nurse, but if I were her, I would accept the judgement and move on. It is definitely a lesson for the rest of us lucky enough to still have a job.

Obviously she has the right to her opinion, although reasonably intelligent human beings also realize that their may be repercussions to voicing these comments without applying common sense.

Getting her facts wrong didn't help, but aside from that I would hope that most Nurses would know better than to profess their vitriol against a deceased accident victim using their real name in full view of the victims family and friends, your employer, and your employers customers (and just for good measure make sure everyone knows you are an ER Nurse). Essentially implying publicly that this person somehow got what they deserved to people that hope their ER Nurse would have some sense of human decency (or at least the sense to hide that fact if they don't) is poor judgement to say the least. Prior to doing that I would hope your common sense alarm would go off, the fact that hers didn't would suggest she doesn't have the common sense required to be a Nurse (or at least had serious lapses).

Yes, I'm aware. However, employers can only restrict the speech of employees while on the job. Ms. Gusta was speaking outside the workplace as a private citizen. In that capacity, she can say whatever she wants.

I agree that her comments were insensitive, and that it was bad judgment on her part to post them publicly. However, I find it disturbing that so many are so willing to blur the line between private citizen and employee and allow employers to terminate employment based upon opinions voiced outside the workplace. I feel that if an employee is to be terminated, that termination should be based upon job performance, not for voicing an opinion as a private citizen outside the workplace.

When I am at work, performing my job duties, I am a representative of my employer, and as such, my behavior while on the job should reflect the core values of my employer. However, when I am off the clock, I am a private citizen, and my behavior reflects my own values.