Fired from job

Nurses General Nursing

Published

  • Specializes in nursing homes, home health..

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Specializes in Psych, Med/Surg, LTC.

I feel bad for you. Thats why I stay away from home health. Its their word against yours. I think that wife is suffering and doesn't know how to express it. She may also feel guilty for the way she treats him. It sounds like you happened to be her door mat. Im sorry you are going through this. I hope that things a resolved without any problems for you. Im glad you will have a lawyer. Good luck.

goingnuts

42 Posts

Specializes in nursing homes, home health..
Hospice is hard and GOD BLESS you for working in it.

I'm not a nurse, but I can tell you that you were probably working in a very poor center that fired you because of what one person sai

Yes I am aware of the reputation of hospice. This one is one of a kind tho. I was only there six weeks. They were the only hospice to guarentee 40hours. No matter what. I found this a little odd since you never know what censes is going to be like. The first two weeks they had the new hires doing self directed oreintation. Now who does that? It was just ridiculous. Of course we didn't do anything but laugh and talk. We even watched a movie. We would leave and come back when we got ready. No one kept an eye on us at all. New hires need some kind of guidance. You can't just give them tests and books and say go for it. Then I did orientation with the only evening LVN [well the only evening nurse period]. I believe they have to have at least one nurse on evenings so they can justify billing Medicare whether they need one or not. For the whole two weeks we did maybe four hours work. The rest of the time we went shopping, out to eat, sightseeing. I took her to my house showed her my dogs. We usually quit at least 2 hours early because she wanted to go home and there just wasn't anything to do. They didn't really need her except for billing sake. They sure didn't need me. You would have to be pretty stupid not to figure that out. They did seem to need me for two weeks after that then people started dieing and they really didn't need me. So when this came up they were real quick to fire me. As far as I know no one has been hired in my place. That was three weeks ago. Why would they. They don't need that first person much less a second one. They have pastors, social workers, that never have anything to do for the most part. I have never seen a hospice like this one. But I like the idea of getting paid without working so I was upset to get fired.

goingnuts

42 Posts

Specializes in nursing homes, home health..

I have been giving this peer review thing a lot of thought. It is all I can think about. And the truth is I think I will ask my lawyer whether he thinks it would make any differene if I went. If the review was being done by nurses that had nothing to do with the hospice I was fired from there would be no question but that I would go. But the fact that I am being reviewed by nurses that work there and will only say what they think the hospice wants them to say. They already have my statement and know where I stand. They are not doing this at all to help me or to be fair. They couldn't care less about that. This is for them. There would be no other reason but to help them out. Since they have fired me without even really listening to me there reason for a peer review has something to do with helping themselves out of a jam. If that were not true I think they would just go ahead and report me to the Board. Why go to the trouble of a review. Like I said if it were being done by impartial nurses or at least in another building I would feel better. I have no way of knowing if any of those nurses might want to see me get in trouble. People smile to your face all of the time and really deep down are jealous or just don't like the sound of your voice. Who knows. They are certainly not going to admit to it and you can't prove one way or the other. Does any of this make sense to anybody. Sorry this was so long. I just wanted to get my point across.

texas_lvn

427 Posts

Specializes in Med/Surg, ER and ICU!!!.

Prayers being said for you and yours. Keep your head high. Texas

MAP1

20 Posts

Hi , you need an attorney = fast. you need to scare them alittle- this sounds way overboard for what happened - you were with a complicated situation there and that has to be taken into consideration but also protect yourself from furthur assaults

CMCRN

122 Posts

Specializes in L&D,Lactation.

I agree, attorney ASAP! He/She will be able to advise on everything including whether or not to inform them you have one.

goingnuts

42 Posts

Specializes in nursing homes, home health..

Hey I finally got some help in getting an attorney. It was not easy. I went on line and finally heard from the Community Network. They will refer me to an attorney in my area. It is 24.95 a month for the service but that is nothing to me. The lawyer will be willing to take the case and it will be about 75 an hour. They were real interested in hearing about there not be anything for me to do. Well that is the truth. Out of the six weeks I was there I don't think there was a weeks worth of work for me to do. There wasn't anything for the other evening nurse to do much less me. There just wasn't any patients. No pt. no work. Anyway I feel much better about everything. At least I think I can make it to my other jobs now. Thanks everyone.

gitterbug

540 Posts

good luck.

texas_lvn

427 Posts

Specializes in Med/Surg, ER and ICU!!!.

Any updates? Did you go to the review? How are things? Please keep us posted.

Lacie, BSN, RN

1,037 Posts

Specializes in jack of all trades.
I agree, attend the peer review.

However, since you are no longer employed, you have no duty to report to them whether or not you intend to be present with counsel. It is a courtesy only, and do you really feel like playing nice? Frankly, I would send back a short but sweet message to them "Yes, I will be there and I will participate in the peer review." I would send this via letter or fax, do not talk to them on the phone, this limits the follow up questions that you know they will ask. I would hire an attorney and take them with you to the review and not let the hospice agency know beforehand. It is none of their business - you are protecting your reputation/livelihood with whatever means you legally have available, as do they. Who knows...they may elect not to have counsel present and then you have a leg up. At this point, it's all about strategy. Outplay them at their own game.

Very good advice! In addition I would not send anything via fax but send it via "Certified Mail" and ensure you have copies of everything. Keep the return delivery confirmations. If you already have retained an attorney then let them deal with it from the start. If the employer contacts you, refer them to your attorney and dont say anything to them without your attorney's advice/presence. Take it from someone who has had to deal with the fall out from false claims to BON's as they dont look out for you but for the public safety as thier first concern. They (BON's) dont give a rat's bottom how you come out of it if it does go to boards. If complaints are made they are ultimately obligated to act on that complaint regardless of it's validity. Either way it ends up costing you the aggravation and the $ to prove your innocence over the implied guilt. Unlike the legal system it's not innocent until proven guilty.

barbie90210

46 Posts

Specializes in Telemetry, post partum, critical care.

several people have said that they "stay away from home health" because of situations like this. however, these types of things happen in hospitals all the time. just because there might have been people in the hall to hear the woman screaming wouldn't have saved you. it comes down to whether the hospital administration will support you by having your back. many people have had bald-faced lies told about them in hospitals. your only defense is to document everything - especially when dealing with a disturbed patient or family. for that agency to fire you on the basis of her crazy report is downright - crazy! they also risk a lawsuit from you for defaming your character and accusing you of abuse and assault. i think they must have been looking for a reason to fire you or never accepted you. it's a shame to find out that way. many times patient complaints can be handled in such a way that they are minimized. other times a supervisor will milk the complaint for all it is worth encouraging the family to write you up. patient complaints and unhappy customers are common even in hospitals. my only concern would be giving an elderly patient that much medication. they can be very sensitive and become confused - i don't know if that was an issue. just because you had an order for all those meds doesn't mean they should all be given at the same time. however, it is your word against hers. if it were true that you were accused of manhandling the patient it should have been investigated and the injuries photographed the next day. you don't even know if the woman abused her own husband and took photos of the abuse! it is critical to know what was said, when it was said, and what was done about it. the other comment i have is that if you have (extremely important) it covers some legal expenses. i hope you are covered as it costs only about $90 a year where i live. personally, i don't think they have a leg to stand on. the board will determine if the law has been broken before an investigation is initiated. no proof, no case. you have grounds to collect unemployment from the hospice and i would even see a therapist to document the stress they have caused you with their unfounded and unproven accusations. i wouldn't say that hospice nurses are any less skilled than hospital nurses. it is a different focus of nursing. however, it is an area in which you are on your own. no matter where you work in nursing there is always the risk that someone will report you for an actual or conceived misstep because everything you do is on display - yet some things you do are not viewed. anyone can accuse you of anything. so you have to be extremely careful and i'm sure you will if a similar situation arises in the future. :blushkiss

goingnuts

42 Posts

Specializes in nursing homes, home health..
Any updates? Did you go to the review? How are things? Please keep us posted.
Thanks for caring. I have decided not to go to the review. It will not be fair since those nurses work there so what would be the point. Whether I go or not they will do exactly what they want anyway. I kind of think that if they believed I did this terrible thing they should have just gone ahead and reported me. Abuse is abuse and the board wants that sort of thing reported immediately. Not three months down the road. So while I am concerned at least I am not terrified anymore. It is surprising what giving yourself time to think will do. Now if they take this to the board then I will get an attorney. Otherwise I will not. They are not easy to find so this must not happen that often. If it did and there was money to be made then there would be lawyers ready and waiting. Let me know your opinion of my thoughts. It always helps to get another perspective.
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