Hostile work environment - Violent Doctor

shir977 · Feb 3, 2016

This is a completely unacceptable and unsafe environment for staff, but just as important, for patients. I once worked with a doctor that was so verbally abusive and horrible to work with it flustered the staff into feeling forced to be unsafe. The culmination of this continued environment was a wrong surgery sentinel event. Imagine if someone try to stop a wrong site/surgery/patient procedure with surgeon!

TNnursejane, BSN, RN · Feb 3, 2016

I have to give the plaintiff in this suit a "thumbs up" for standing her ground. When I was a young nurse, we didn't even know what sexual harassment was back in the early 80s or it was really kept hush-hush. I have a list of names from back then that I'd love to see taken down a notch or two! I'm very grateful to see that nurses are stepping up and telling the powers-that-be about their situations with these physicians. A hospital near me recently had a surgeon who was arrested for his "tirade" in an OR recently. It got down to a staff and patient safety issue. It's sad that things have to get that bad before someone does anything.

TriciaJ, RN · Feb 3, 2016

Ziggy26 said:
I'm in Canada and maybe I'm missing something about your jurisdiction but as a nurse by trade and an administrator, I'm curious, do you not have a union that will fight this on your behalf? If this kind of assault were taking place here, that's the first place I would go not to mention filing a complaint /c the College of Physicians & Surgeons.

Many nurses here in the States are not union. I know; hard to believe. That's why you'll read many posts on this site from nurses who are putting up with crap out of fear for their jobs. Another thing is the concept of "open shops" where paying dues is optional but representation is mandatory. And even when nurses are unionized, I've known many that still felt too intimidated to file a righteous grievance. It makes my head explode, because it doesn't have to be this way.

It makes me laugh when I hear us Canadians described as "nice" because we put up with far less b.s. in the workplace.

Dafabb, LPN · Feb 3, 2016

Actually this doesn't happen as much as it use to. Drs throwing instruments etc. I use to hear a lot of stories. One story I will share as I was there, we had a urologist who would verbally abuse nurses. One day a Nurse was getting taken to task in front of patient, family and co-workers. She walked out of the room and started down the hall. He came out and yelled at her to come back. She did and she said to him " when you can talk to me as a human being then I will be glad to discuss this with you. Until you can do that I have nothing to say to you and you will not address me in the way you have done. She turned and walked away. He was so angry he couldn't say anything. He also was censored by the hospital as this was a ritual with him. He did improve and became a better person around the nurses. He also was a great teacher. Maybe on a suggest that they get this Dr in front of their surgical team and address these issues in front of a 3rd party from the hospital will then understand they will not put up with his childish ways and let him know there can be other more severe consequences if it happens again.....

Editorial Team / Admin · Feb 3, 2016

Txldy said:
Because its a red state. Nurses, please don't vote against the best interest of yourselves and your patients.

I'm pretty sure politics have nothing to do with what surgeons act out maliciously and what surgeons behave themselves. No need to stereotype that way.

OP, you definitely need to address your concerns with your immediate manager. If that goes nowhere, then you need to take it up the chain of command.

VTLegalRN · Feb 3, 2016

Wow, there are several key issues that glare out at me... not the least of which is assault and battery as mentioned here in various posts. In addition some my observations on this scenario are:

1) The person he allegedly pushed was not the only victim here... everyone there was!

2) Summer, you nailed when you said you now feel you have a "hostile" work environment. You used the words "intense" and "its uncomfortable, acts like a bully", and that some of you feel "he will do it again". I believe this is another separate issue that the hospital has a responsibility to address.

3) What about the fact that sterile technique/infection control protocol was broken, putting mom and baby at risk?? Some states would require formal reporting to the dept of health for blatant disregard of infection control practices (assuming that was the case), or QA reporting at the very least.

4) It would appear as you and your colleagues may have some legal recourse, not just against the doctor, but the hospital as well (under the rule of respondeat superior, the hospital is responsible for the actions of the doctor).

You stated that you've been with this organization a long time. You shouldn't work in fear. You and/or your colleagues may want to consider speaking to an attorney. I know I would.

I am a nurse, not an attorney. I've led large clinical departments, and safety for my staff as well as my patients, was always a priority.

I hope you are able to resolve this.

Regards,

VT

Hancock330 · Feb 3, 2016

A couple of thoughts. Many states are "right to work" states (what an inappropriate label) so a nurse who complains about ANYTHING can be fired. Unless the nurse can prove the firing was due to membership in a protected group, that is, people can't be fired for being too old, for being male or female, for belonging to a racial or ethnic group, for membership in a religious group, and maybe one or two other categories, but they can be fired because the employer wants to fire them, because their eyes are the wrong color, or because it's Tuesday. No reason has to be given. These are states where union membership is always voluntary (except for people who work for the federal government and belong to a union) and many of them are in parts of the country where "union" is a dirty word. If a nurse in the situation described by the OP could prove sexual harassment, he/she couldn't be fired for complaining or bring charges. That may be impossible to do, however.

If you are unaware of what happened to nurses in Texas a few years back where, if I remember correctly, they reported a physician for treating wound infections by rubbing them with olive oil and other similar practices, you should read about it.

While justice was EVENTUALLY served, they were arrested, and one was tried (and acquitted), but they lost their licenses, and endured a year or more of hell. When you are accustomed to being the member of a collective bargaining unit (union) and live where nurses are valued and respected -- not just "the girls (with the occasional male being tolerated)" who are supposed to follow the doctors' orders and protect the doctors so that their patients never discover the doctors' mistakes -- you really don't know how fragile your work situation can be. And if you have commitments and responsibilities that keep you from moving to a better place to work, you're pretty much stuck.

I do have a final suggestions for the OP. While keeping patient privacy in mind, keep your own records of events you witness with this, or any, physician or coworker. Using a code, date and time each record -- then describe events -- what was done, what was said -- in a dryly impersonal tone that would let the licensure board or jury draw their own conclusions in terms of who started a confrontation and who was at fault, behaviorally. Reports to risk management can disappear, so your description should state whether the same report was submitted to the risk management office, if appropriate. Your documentation should include the names of all persons present at the time of the confrontation, too. I am well aware that risk management personnel advise against nurses keeping copies of risk management reports -- because those may be consider "internal documents" and not subject to subpoena. In this situation, however, a subpoena could work in your favor since you would probably like to have the reports presented in court.

springchick1, ADN, RN · Feb 3, 2016

fmchcb said:
My understanding is that risk management and directors will NOT stand up to the bully either!

I have been blessed with a great manager and director. There are only a handful of surgeons where I work that are hard to deal with and can be complete you-know-what's and everyone knows it. Typically when these doctors go and complain about staff, the first thing my manager asks is, "Well, what did you do to them?" She makes sure that the surgeons treat us with respect.

chare · Feb 4, 2016

Hancock330 said:
A couple of thoughts. Many states are "right to work" states (what an inappropriate label) so a nurse who complains about ANYTHING can be fired...

I believe you mean "at will" to refer to a state in which you can be terminated for any reason, or no reason at all. "Right to work" refers to a state in which union membership cannot be held as a requirement for employment.

mrclark0000 · Feb 4, 2016

Summer70 said:
I have come across a delema at work that I have not had experience with. I've been an employee of my hospital a long time...with the last 10 yrs as an RN. We had an incident recently where during a Cesarean Section the Physician put his hands on our Scrub Tech in anger and pushed him away from the field saying "get the **** out of my OR" after the Doctor was asked/reminded that what he was doing was "nonsterile/unsafe" The baby was saftely delivered and the patient stable before this occured. This particular doctor likes to make our OR environment "intense" and it is uncomforable and he acts like a bully. Now there are several of us (techs and RNs) that feel that if he put hands on an employee in anger once he will do it again. Risk Management was involved, but there doesn't seem to be any consequences for his actions as he still has a bullying attitude. The tech & doctor are male...could this be the reason that it isn't taken more seriously?
Any suggestions are appreciated.
Summer

I'm a male nurse and I will say that this needs to get handled by HR. I would never put up with this sort of behaviour..

I've been around a abusive surgeon (oddly enough the surgeon was female) who had been "written up" infinite times and sent to HR's anger management so many times that the staff said she should have been able to teach it. This behavior has been ongoing for 15 years that I worked with her and she never improved in the time I was working at that hospital.

I think it's sad that this is still an ongoing problem.

adamRn79, BSN, RN · Feb 4, 2016

Contact the local news

Axgrinder · Feb 4, 2016

I've been on the receiving end of aggression from physicians many times in my career - both male and female providers. It gets reported, they are talked to, but it never prevents it from happening again. This is unacceptable from people whom are well educated, and know better - after all, common decency and manners are taught to us all at our mother's knee at an early age.