Swastikas & Nursing | Refusing care based upon moral objection?

[guest042302019]

As nurses, we work with many types of people.

Some really amazing people.

Some unsavory people.

Some you wouldn't want to be caught dead associating with.

Tonight, I was watching Grey's Anatomy!

I'm way behind the times as I just started only a few weeks ago.

For the die hard fans, I'm on season four so you might remember this episode.

An ambulance T-boned another ambulance.

One of the paramedics injured kept refusing care from the doctors (2 African Americans).

Come to find out the paramedic was a white supremicist and had a HUGE swastika tattooed on his abdomen.

This episode is quite timely because I cared for a very similar patient recently.

Swastika tattoos. Racist comments. The stereotypical white supremacist.

It was quite uncomfortable to say the least.

He assumed that I was like him.

Whenever he spoke about the African American CNAs, he spoke in derogatory terms that I don't feel the need to repeat here.

We've all heard these words before.

It was even more uncomfortable when he assumed I would agree or that I was like him.

He assumed I believed in the same skewed moral values he had about African Americans.

I understand we are supposed to objective during our care.

At the same time, I DO NOT share those racist and hateful views these types of people have.

I've never understood it and I avoid anyone that is like that in my life. Naturally, I cared for this patient the same as anyone else. That's my job.

However, my question is:

Can a nurse refuse to care for a patient based upon moral objection?

[dbabz]

Nope.

That said, I feel your pain. I've had similar experiences not in nursing so much as life in general. My first reaction was a feeling of insult. Then I had to wonder what about my appearance or demeanor would make this person think I was like-minded. Then it occurred to me that this kind of generalization is a common feature of any kind of biased thinking. When people shut themselves up in an echo chamber where there's a constant barrage of the same fallacy over and over, they don't realize that there are myriad mindsets out there. Don't be offended, it has nothing to do with you. This patient only sees "us" and "them."

With regard to treating patients, I too have had a few violent, unsavory characters. Honestly, it's a huge weight off of my shoulders NOT to have to judge. So many shades of gray out there. I just bring my very best to each and every single patient and try not to think about the other stuff.

Finally, I see nothing wrong with telling the patient that the people he is deriding are respected colleagues and it is not acceptable to use demeaning language when speaking to or about them. Of course, I'd check hospital policy on that first.

[CBlover, BSN, RN]

If I refused to care for a white supremacists, as much as that disgusts me, I'd be as guilty of partiality and prejudice as him. That's the way I see it.

[offlabel]

Big difference between refusing care of a patient (the actual person) on moral grounds and refusing to take an active participation in an action.

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects those who refuse to participate in abortions because of their religious beliefs.

Several states have also enacted laws giving the right to health care workers to refuse to participate on ethical grounds, so you don't have to be religiously inclined at all, at least in some states, to choose not to take an active role in, as far as this law goes, abortion. Other procedures might be covered in different jurisdiction's statutory code.

[macawake, MSN]

Big difference between refusing care of a patient (the actual person) on moral grounds and refusing to take an active participation in an action.

From the patient's perspective the difference probably isn't all that big, if that one specific "action" is what they want and need.

[NightNerd, MSN, RN]

I'm in the camp that would not refuse care but would set some firm behavioural limits. There's not much that can be done about things like tattoos while the patient is in hospital, but people can control their words and actions well enough. I have definitely had to set certain patients straight when they start verbally abusing my coworkers, and if they are with it enough, they generally back off.

[Serhilda, ADN, RN]

You really just have to get over any disagreements you may have with a patient and continue your care for them. It's not the end of the world because you had a patient with differing beliefs of any kind.

[Daisy Joyce]

I've never seen that level of racism, but I've seen plenty of the lower-level stuff, mostly from the older generation. Usually I just pretend I didn't hear it.

But one time my patient made a snide remark about all the PSAs during black history month. So I played like I didn't understand her meaning, put on a big cheerful smile and replied, "I know-isn't it great to learn things about other cultures you didn't know before?"

Then she kinda blinked and dialed back on the rhetoric.

[offlabel]

From the patient's perspective the difference probably isn't all that big, if that one specific "action" is what they want and need.

We're not talking about the patient's feelings. We're talking about the civil rights of health care providers. If a constitutional civil right to not participate exists, the patient's objection to it is secondary.

It isn't about emotion, it's about the law.

[Leader25, ASN, BSN, RN]

Your patients are not the only ones you need to think about.There is much you do not know,as the saying goes all that glitters is not gold.Look left and look right and you will never know your own co workers.There is much that goes on in the world and your scope should be open to the possibility that not every nurse has been in a nunnery all her life.Nurses are human beings and fallible as such, so are you.Do not be the judge.

From all my years helping RNs who got in hot water(union procedure) there were instances that shocked or saddened me.

I would think what happens to someone who spent years in school to go and do something that is so damaging to their career,livelihood and family.

We are all human.

[Emergent, RN]

I don't care about my patient's opinions, they mean nothing to me. They are all a part of the parade of humanity that is one of the interesting parts of the job.

Who needs reality TV when you can get paid to be an ER nurse?

[JadedCPN, BSN, RN]

No, I don't feel a nurse should refuse to take care of a patient. I do believe that a nurse has every right to set very hard limits and boundaries with said patient if they were to be subjected to it.

[Tenebrae, BSN, RN]

Never not cared for a patient based on what they have done.

Worked with some people in psych who committed some brutal murders too

That said, I have been known to confront patients who are racist to my staff and let them know abusive behavior will not be tolerated