Being forced to give corporate access to my medical records?!

[IRN2011]

Hey everyone,

So I've been floating between my main unit in CCU/CVICU and our covid ICU with no issues since the pandemic hit last Feb.  Last month my heartrate started going erratic and turns out I was in thyroid storm (history of thyroid CA s/p thyroidectomy on Synthroid now).  I remember showing up to work one day and the moment I got to the nurses station I started feeling palpitations and had to sit down.. I hooked myself up to the zoll with my charge nurse to find me taching in the 180's - I ended up going to the ED and getting IV labetalol.  My endocrinologist does not want to lower my Synthroid dosage even though my last TSH is 0.06 due to high chance of cancer reoccurrence - so now I'm seeing a cardiologist and ended up being started on labetalol which has controlled my heart rate.

Around the same time, my charge nurse started refusing to float me to our covid unit, stating that due to my health she didn't want me to be exposed to it (our covid unit is still a lockdown unit where you get a single 30 minute break and wear the same PPE/gloves locked in the unit for the whole 12 hours straight... most people like myself bring our own N95's and envo masks as the hospital still only provides a single N95 per 2 weeks and 60+hours on a single n95 just doesn't cut it for me).  When my charge stopped floating me to covid, she came up to me and asked me to get a doctors note from my PCP to justify her decision to not float me to covid anymore.  I talked to my director about this and she is also in agreement that due to my health I shouldn't be floated to covid - so I went to my PCP and got a Dr's note.  Fast forward a few weeks and now corporate is calling me and stating that due to how many people have Dr. notes excusing them from working on the covid unit, they have a form that needs to be filled out by the physician.  The form is an ADA disability paperwork that is written in a way that makes it sound like I am incompetent.  There's 17 questions, extremely repetitive, and all involve the doctor explaining why I need 'modifications to my daily routine at the hospital to allow me to perform my core functions as a nurse'.  They also require a waiver to be signed that allows corporate full access to my medical records and to discuss my treatment with my doctors.

I called corporate to clarify the paperwork as I do not have a disability and I am not immunosuppressed; I have a history of thyroid cancer that has been treated and no longer an issue minus a little flareup that has now been taken care of.  Its not my decision to not float to covid-ICU and I have no issues floating to work there.

Corporates response to my inquiry was "yes, you do have a disability as you can potentially get sick if you get covid due to your history with cancer, so have your doctor fill out the ADA paperwork as if you have a disability, and your disability is your cancer history".  I feel like this paperwork will bite me in the butt in the future and am against signing a form that states I have a disability that inhibits me from performing my functions as a nurse and giving my medical records and access to future records to my employers when I am fully capable of performing the functions of my job and only 32yrs old.  The form is due back to them today, still trying to figure out what or even if I should write to corporate.  I feel like this is a complete violation of my personal privacy.

[IRN2011, ASN, BSN]

update to the thread:

I talked to my director yesterday and reiterated again to her that I did not request to not float to covid unit, it was my charge nurse and her deciding that for me.. and that I have no issues floating to covid.  I have a history of cancer which has been treated and thus not a disability so I will not be filling out the ADA form that corporate wants me to nor giving them access to my medical records.  She was fine with that.  

This morning I received an email from corporate (which conveniently is in a different state) with a legal letter stating I have 5 days to have my doctor fill out the ADA medical questionnaire or they will consider the lack of response job abandonment and terminate my employment.  I am now seeking out legal council.

[monkey205]

Good luck!  keep us posted.  I personally don't see how, if you are not requesting job limitations, how they can force you to do so.   I would also call the EEOC and Labor Board in your state to get an opinion from them.    

[Emergent, RN]

There is currently a nursing shortage,  which is a perfect time to seek new employment. 

[caliotter3]

The media would like this story.

[JKL33]

On second thought I think you have a problem. Just thinking out loud here:

On 3/4/2021 at 11:59 AM, IRN2011 said:

When my charge stopped floating me to covid, she came up to me and asked me to get a doctors note from my PCP to justify her decision to not float me to covid anymore.  I talked to my director about this and she is also in agreement that due to my health I shouldn't be floated to covid - so I went to my PCP and got a Dr's note. 

You have already submitted a physician's note stating that you shouldn't be floated there. In other words, a physician's note substantiating a need for an accommodation.

This isn't just that they have arbitrarily decided that you need to have a disability on paper to justify their decision; you brought them a note stating that you couldn't do something on the advice of your physician and now they are asking you for additional substantiation of what you already claimed. They might not be going about it the right way but this is the gist of what they are getting at.

It seems like you need a note clearing you of any restrictions, and a way to officially note that your previous situation has been able to be clarified medically and further restrictions are not required. They may or may not appreciate that idea; they may see it as initially an attempt at getting out of something and then later an attempt at undoing that when pressed for more info.

I do understand the nuance of how this went down and am not criticizing you, OP. I'm just saying that it seems you are actually over a bit of a barrel because of the original doctor's note, and it might be important to consider that angle.

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

Corporations have been moving to using the disability accommodation per the ADA instead of honoring a simple Dr's excuse.  Your Dr has to fill out the paperwork and yes they see some of your relevant medical records.  Corporations are suppose to try to accommodate workers with disabilities, but they don't have to.  They can simply say they can't do it due to job needs.  Yes it involves both HR and your mgr discussing your medical issues and deciding whether or not to accommodate you. 

Sadly yes it has been used quite commonly to deny workers disability accommodations and instead terminate them.  My understanding if they deny you accommodations, you have the choice of continuing without them.  Some workers have filed complaints with the EEOC or filed lawsuits, but as you know in this country big business usually has the upper hand.  If someone won they either get their job back and lost wages or a settlement if the company won't rehire you.

I would look for a new employer related to expecting you to use the same N95 for weeks!  That is unacceptable to me, especially this far into the pandemic.  Sadly American companies have made many masks that are now sitting in warehouses as hospitals don't bother to buy them.  They will probably end up being sold to other countries.  So there is NO shortage of masks, contrary to what hospitals may claim; just greed as hospitals choose not to buy enough!

[speedynurse, ADN, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

On 3/4/2021 at 2:13 PM, Emergent said:

This is a fascinating story. On the one hand, I applaud your employer for trying to protect vulnerable people. On the other hand, you are not seeking an excuse from being in the covid unit, yet they are demanding full access to your medical records. I will be fascinated to find out the outcome of this.

I thought the same thing....never heard of something quite like this! Wow.....I know I would personally not be comfortable with allowing medical records or anything like that shared with my workplace.

[Mergirlc, MSN, APRN, NP]

On 3/5/2021 at 8:02 AM, caliotter3 said:

The media would like this story.

^^^^  This!  I minored in Communications/Journalism and actually did an internship at a news station.  News folks want these type of stories because the broadcast always needs things to fill in between the headliners.  Public Interest stories.  

I hope you do not get dismissed and everything turns out fine for you, but if you are terminated, you may want to consider contacting your local area news station and letting them know what happened.

Major corporations, especially hospitals, hate looking bad.  The public already has some mistrust issues when it comes to healthcare. Another story against a hospital is every public information officers/spokesperson's pain in the butt thing to handle.  Especially if it's about (saying this in my best news anchor voice) ....

" A hard-working Covid ICU nurse, who put her life on the line to only be handed a termination notice to end her life's work....."

?

[chare]

35 minutes ago, Mergirlc said:

On 3/5/2021 at 11:02 AM, caliotter3 said:

The media would like this story.

^^^^  This!  I minored in Communications/Journalism and actually did an internship at a news station.  News folks want these type of stories because the broadcast always needs things to fill in between the headliners.  Public Interest stories.  

I don't know.  As JKL33 wrote in a previous post, the OP's employer likely considers that he or she initiated a request for an exemption and are now awaiting documentation to evaluate her or his claim.

[NotFlo]

Seems like the solution to every problem is add more forms for a doctor to fill out and add more letters for the doctor to write; sorry for the tangent but I work in primary care and of course the doctor never has to fill this stuff out or write these letters the support staff does and it's always been a big job, but with COVID it's just another thing that has gotten more time consuming and onerous. Yes, tons and tons of people have requested letters exempting them from COVID units (and every other type of job imaginable) and the doctors pretty much always say sure whatever write the letter. 

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

3 hours ago, Mergirlc said:

^^^^  This!  I minored in Communications/Journalism and actually did an internship at a news station.  News folks want these type of stories because the broadcast always needs things to fill in between the headliners.  Public Interest stories.  

I hope you do not get dismissed and everything turns out fine for you, but if you are terminated, you may want to consider contacting your local area news station and letting them know what happened.

Major corporations, especially hospitals, hate looking bad.  The public already has some mistrust issues when it comes to healthcare. Another story against a hospital is every public information officers/spokesperson's pain in the butt thing to handle.  Especially if it's about (saying this in my best news anchor voice) ....

" A hard-working Covid ICU nurse, who put her life on the line to only be handed a termination notice to end her life's work....."

?

I don't know that the OP would be terminated.  I don't know the culture and the mgr and their relationship.  It really depends on that, and the mgr has the final say.  Yes the corporation is supposed to offer accommodations based on the ADA law, but they can still refuse by simply stating they aren't able to accommodate due to work force need.  To me I find it adversarial and invasive, but it is simply following the law.  Unfortunately the law always has loopholes.

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

18 minutes ago, NotFlo said:

Seems like the solution to every problem is add more forms for a doctor to fill out and add more letters for the doctor to write; sorry for the tangent but I work in primary care and of course the doctor never has to fill this stuff out or write these letters the support staff does and it's always been a big job, but with COVID it's just another thing that has gotten more time consuming and onerous. Yes, tons and tons of people have requested letters exempting them from COVID units (and every other type of job imaginable) and the doctors pretty much always say sure whatever write the letter. 

While I can understand your frustration, it is a matter of law the ADA, the Americans with Disability Act and a worker needs the Dr to fill out forms when they need an accommodation in their job. 

Before we were taken over by Wrongway, a simple Dr's note would do and it would be processed fairly by Employee Health.  But after the takeover, Employee Health no longer had any say.  Instead HR and your mgr would review your personal medical records and the ADA forms and make a decision.

This is not just about covid or nurses.  Anyone may need a work accommodation for any job for health problems.

I will give my hospital credit that they did exempt workers based on age and lung problems from the beginning of covid.  Others did receive accommodation based on other medical issues as well. 

I found the process intimidating and invasive, but that was compounded by the hospital takeover, new HR, new mgr and removing Employee Health from the process.  My situation had nothing to do with covid, and was before covid. 

My Dr did fill out the paperwork and employee health was supportive, but they had no say over the decision.  So in the end I never followed through with it.