False statement for terminating employment

[sandfla]

Very upset over a suspension that turned into a termination by phone and then sent a explanation by certified mail. They accused me of being disrespectful to patient which caused the patient to be humiliated and further provoked his anger towards the entire staff. This is not true! This patient came into the ER arrested spitting and cursing at everyone. He wasn't my patient I just help a nurse get a cath urine. What are my rights as a nurse? How do i go about fighting these allegations. I have the staff that was in the room with me who will confirm this is not true but was never even given the chance to speak with anyone. Furthermore the director of the ER went to two other Emergency Rooms that are affiliates and told them that I was suspended after telling me that this was confidential and I was not allowed to discuss it with anyone. I have worked at this facility for 4 years and spent a year of being a charge nurse. I think I empowered some of the nurses to go HR about a few situation and I'm getting retaliation. I don't want my job back? But would love to find away to stop this behavior in hospitals. Any advise would be appreciated.

[caliotter3]

Do you have a lot of money to pay an attorney? Do you have a lot of time, and nerves of steel? If not, you should just figure out how to deal with it. But I would suggest at least one visit to an attorney. A cease and desist letter can work wonders sometimes and may be all you need. Get some legal advice which we can't provide here, and best wishes getting through this.

[PediRN]

Call the hospital and ask them what their policy is for appealing a termination. If you belong to a union they can help you with this, otherwise call HR direct. Then DO IT in a timely fashion (whatever the policy states). What will probably happen is that you will then either receive a denial, or a meeting with a higher-up. If denied, your only recourse is to try to get them on a human rights violation, otherwise if you're in an employment at will state, they can terminate you for any reason as long as they are not discriminating against you based on any of the protected classes of individuals (i.e. sex, race, disability, etc). They ARE NOT allowed to contact other potential employers, you might want to seek a lawyer's advice about that. Most states have a free lawyer referral service, you can also google your hospital + lawsuits + wrongful termination and see what comes up. You may not be the only one to whom this has happened.

Hope this helps, good luck

[RubyRN,CHPN]

Agree with Caliotter, Lawyer up lickety split.

[Baloney Amputation, BSN, LPN, RN]

File for unemployment, along with what the previous posters said.

[dthfytr, ADN, LPN, RN, EMT-B, EMT-I]

Agree with all of the above. Lawyer up right away and get the HR part going. Write a very thorough anecdotal description of the events in the greatest possible detail ASAP. Leave nothing out. It'll help with the lawyer, and may well be all the proof you need, but anecdotal notes are terrific, and admissible in court. If the charting backs up how obnoxious the patient was, you're golden. Honestly, you're dealing with amateurs. One place I worked used the same reason for every termination; "your charting is inadequate." Just try to fight that one! Keep your spirits up. I'd bet the patient has something on the hospital, or like you said the hospital wants you gone. A lawyer can probably get to the bottom of it. I admire your spirit. Sometimes you just gotta say sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug, and move on. Good luck in any case and remember that in a few years you may see this as the best thing that ever happened to you.

[sandfla]

Thank you for all your advise. It is greatly appreciated! Will be speaking with an attorney.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

Thank you for all your advise. It is greatly appreciated! Will be speaking with an attorney.

But you still need to ascertain and do all the steps required in appealing or contesting the termination. There are time limits, so do it now.

Your employee handbook should tell you what is required, what forms to use, who to address it to, etc. And it maybe wouldn't hurt to let a bigwig at the hospital know what has happened and see if you get some help from that person.

Expect a rough ride but good luck. you should probably line up another job now.

What do you mean the Director "went to" other affiliated ER's? If they are affiliates, she probably had to let them know not to hire you. But you might have some recourse, some claim (slander, defamation?) so see that lawyer.

[sandfla]

I went through the Associate Handbook and it states " the following issues are not subject to the grievance procedure. Disciplinary actions for patient abuse or any other gross misconduct on the part of an Associate." In the termination letter they wrote that " I was investigated for allegations of grossly abusive and discourteous conduct to a patient. The investigation revealed that you were verbally disrespectful to a patient which caused the patient to be humiliated and further provoked his anger toward the entire staff." They will not let me grieve this. I do have the incident report that was written by the patient nurse. I was just helping her get a cath urine.

This hospital has two other Emergency Rooms in the area. They were just letting the nursing staff that work in each ER that I was suspended. I am a very well liked nurse and they knew that there was going to people very upset by this. They said they were just trying to stop the rumor mill. I think they were using me as an example to say "Look what we can do" The moral in all three is ERs is very low and the nurse have been fighting management on some issues and they are not happy about it. So they wanted to let everyone know that they can get ride of anyone they want to. Even the really good nurses. I put a lot of extra time and effort into this hospital and this is how I have been treated. I was on their in-service line team, charge nurse, etc.