Fired for Abuse/harrassment

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I worked in a Health Care facility for eight years. Allways had good reviews,

never written up, never called in or was late. Was "Star" employee in December of 2004. I was terminated today for abuse. A patient of mine used a tobacco product and when she would come to the desk asking for the tobacco and we were out she would become angry. I sometimes joked with her trying to calm her down. She would cuss me and walk away, I would say I love you Louise, she would say I love you to *****. A CNA overheard this one night and turned me in. I was investigated and fired. I was also told this would be reported to the state, now Im afraid of losing my license. HELP :crying2:

As for all those who put in their dedication and heart on helping pts and the company.....It's sad how employee's are treated. Some companies out there, they don't care about what you've done in the past, they only care about WHAT YOU JUST DID. :o

From what you describe, there does not seem to be enough evidence to call this abuse. I have seen far worse. In one alzheimers unit I sometimes visit, I have seen one pt call the aide a bi**H, and then the aide calls her it back. I see and hear so many things at this one facility that I am waiting to go there one day and find the doors locked. Hope for the residents it is soon!

Hey call the ombusdman and ask them ,ask if this is considered abuse ,and give this example .I hope you responded to the fireing and wrote your side of this and got a copy of this firing .If you haven't go back to the hospitial and ask for it . Then I would go to the nursing board and fight.If they find you not at fault You can sue and have this removed from your record.and get your job back or a judgement from the hospitial .You could also sue the aide for defaming your good name.

Hey what can I say my husband works with a lot of Lawyers .When your backs up against the wall you fight.

Even Jeaus got mad and threw out the money changers out of the temple.

If your in the right fight

I don't understand why nurses are treated like this. Aside from the principles of respect and personal dignity, they need us! Bad! Why do they think bullying and harrassing will get more work out of nurses? Why does this occur especially in LTC?

I've only been a nurse in one facility, my local hospital, and while management is terrible - I've seen them stick their heads in the sand for months about a nurse who is doing a lousy job. I remember a nurse I had who repeatedly did unsafe things and took poor quality care of her patients, but when she was finally fired it was for failure to chart adequately. I think management doesn't really know what goes on on the floor. They're too busy going to meetings and trying to fill in scheduling gaps to notice.

Specializes in Case Management, Home Health, UM.
Unfortunately I agree with CSEMGR, they treat us as guilty 1st, until they prove us innocent. I just got back to work today after being off for 3 weeks after having 2 surgeries to get rid of kidney stones. I was called in and "counselled" about missing too many days! I have worked at that faciality for 22 years. The last couple of years I've developed some health problems that have caused me to miss alot of work. They want us to treat the pts with care & compassion but apparently it doesn't apply to the employees. If I miss 3 times in the next 90 days I will be put on part time status :angryfire

Apply for intermittent leave under the FMLA. I have a co-worker who, like you, began experiencing health problems two years ago, including kidney failure, diabetes and gout. If she misses any time due to health problems, she's protected from being "dinged"...like you are.

Go for it. Neither she or you can help being sick. In the meantime your supervisors need to be going after the true malingerers...and leave you alone. :angryfire

Specializes in SICU-MICU,Radiology,ER.

Maybe they just didnt want to pay you retirement-

I can't see how any purely verbal interaction can possibly be grounds for loss of license. Then it seems abit of a stretch for them to fire you for a verbal familiarity with a pt. I have to say that I'm wondering what you left out of the story.

I am a CNA. I was wondering what rights nurses have in potentially abusive situations. Had a home health patient who was a pedophile and the situation was too close to home (post traumatic stuff) and the pt was very possessive of me, so I requested to not have this patient. I would have to be in the home alone with him. First time in 10 years of doing this that I ever asked to not have a certain pt. Really irritated my supervisor. Funny thing was she would say, " he really loves you!" Even after she let me quit seeing him, (other aides had no problems there), she played on my sympathies to take him one more time. I got so nervous I backed out. Needless to say, I am not employed there anymore. I have worked with psychotics, and worse, so I am usually not like this. This was very unusual for me. Would this disqualify me from going into nursing?

Your supervisor had no idea what she was doing. You did the right professional action and decided not to be alone with a patient you felt uncomfortable with. Always go with your own gut instincts. Never allow yourself to be in an unsafe position, there is always a solution. Your boss was jerk on how she handle this situation.

Siometimes our patient relationships will veer away from the staid 'professional' responses to match our patients..and we have all done this in some form, in order to be therapeutic. It's always a risk however and I'm sorry this is backfiring on you. Gotta love that old 'unprofessional behavior' chapter in our NPA's....and boards that just love to discipline nurses.

I would talk with a nurse attorney in your area for advice stat...perhaps she can help you nip this in the bud before it goes any farther than the facility. If anything you will likely get only a warning from your SBON, (I would hope.)

Sounds like someone in management had it in for you and this CNA gave her the ammo she needed. I'm sorry.

It seems to me that there has to be more to this story than the short paragraph that you wrote. I hate to break it to you, but if this matter is taken even further for disciplinary action, and all you have is that little bit that you told us to defend yourself with, your chances aren't good. You need to think hard about what happened and write down every detail. Try to think of anything that happened in the days prior as well, because something has to be missing.

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