CNA Under Investigation, lost wages?

[JessiePark]

So I am currently a CNA in the state of Florida undergoing a state investigation based on coercion. I am currently the victim of taking the fall for a private company running a nursing facility for LTC and rehab.

I was working on a sunday double, working 7-3 and 3-11. After going home I spent my three days off; Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

A resident of mine on Thursday during the 7-3 shift before I came on for a 3-11 shift had been sent out on an injury of unknown origin, his femur had been fractured.

The Assistant Director Of Nursing talked to me about this, I told her he was fine when I left that night. But I had this one detail in my mind that fit with what happened. On the same leg as his fracture my resident had a puffy knee, I wrote swollen in the official statement but as Ill get into, was coercion. I'm not a trained medical professional, I cannot declare a body part to be swollen.

This led towards me being called into the the head honchos office where they began to question me about the statement I made. This is where they began to tell me "I need you add that to your statement. I was quite shocked and scared about what was going on, especially since it was nearly 4 days ago when I last worked, anyone's memory is not that fresh on what happened. They began to throw me scenarios like "So did it happen like this, or did it maybe happen this way". They were filling my mind with different things in my already unstable state and continued to ask me to add to my statement as this interview went on. In the end I realize he was fine and I didn't do anything wrong.

On the other hand I was approached by why my resident was transferred without a hoyer pad. I told them that all of the pads were dirty, or wet from laundry. They began to tell me it should be common sense that I should not have transferred him to begin with. At this time I was unaware I had a right to refuse to transfer him into his wheelchair. I used a standard pivoting technique transferring him on his right leg, not the left leg, the fractured one. At this time he was absolutely fine, no signs of pain or faces, the resident is capable of verbal speech in order to tell me he's in pain and has before.

Because this was outside of his care-plan to use a hoyer and not a pivot, I was now being accused of neglect.

They pulled out some reference book and read out the federal definition of neglect in regard to health care. I do not have the exact reference to which they stated towards me but it was about services provided towards the resident.

Neglect | definition of neglect by Medical dictionary

According to the provided above link the medical definition of neglect is To disregard or ignore; to fail to perform a duty or to give due attention or care.

This puts the situation in a bind because I did not know I have a Stand My Ground right to refuse the nurses decision to put him into a chair. To me in my mind it was if I don't transfer it will be considered neglect. But for my employer, their "professional opinion" of the definition is because I had wet pads and dirty used pads that I could have transferred my resident and thus neglected him.

It would have been neglect to place my resident on a wet pad, which would cause rashes and break down the skin. And it would be a failure of infection control to use someone else's dirty pad.

It's been 4 days since I have been suspended from my work and I have not been given any contact from the DCF or the police. The resident is now back in the facility with the doctors stating that because of his past medical records it was a spontaneous fracture, making sense since I transferred him on the right leg and not the left.

In the end I will be leaving this facility to pursue other ventures but I want to know what I can do towards my lost wages when I am cleared from my investigation.