you will not believe the type of year i've been having.
my story begins during my last year in nursing school. i found a lump on my right breast and i went to have it checked out. i didn't have much money and the insurance i had was so, so bad i only had a sonogram. the radiologist told me it was benign but he suggested having a mammogram. since he said it was benign, i opted to wait until i graduated and got better medical insurance.
i graduated may 2005 and started my job in july. i got so busy learning my job that i forgot about the lump but every month i would check it promising i would do something about it as soon as i cought a break.
during that time, my daughter moves in with my grandson because of marital problems. they were welcomed and we squeezed into a 2 bedroom apartment. at the same time, my husband was diagnosed with stenosis of the cervical vertabrea from c3 to c6. he had a laminectomy and took him until september of 2006 to return to work partially healed.
i finally cought that break on september of 2006. i went to my obgyn and had a mammogram and was referred to a general surgeon. december of 2006 rolls in and a fire breaks out in the building where we live. i was watching everything from a patient's room because i was at work, we were short staffed and couldn't leave. my husband called and told me everyone was ok but we were displaced, at least until the fire marshall could deem the building safe. i go back to the apartment to get some clothes and my grandson's gerbil and got caught by tv cameras. i appeared on the local channel and i'm afraid of what i looked like at the end of my shift, after a three-day-in-a-row shift. i never saw the interview but the people at the hotel where we stayed told me they saw me.
two days after, december 13th, i got a call from the surgeon telling me i had breast cancer. (are you thinking "oh, my goodness, can this woman take more bad news?? 'cos i did and i'm not done).
i had a double mastectomy and my husband and daughter were laid off from their respective jobs but i have long term dissability (not short term) and my husband's boss kept him on the job as long as he could. so we spend the next 71 days praying for money because we only had two small unemployment checks coming in. we filed our taxes and the return payed for our rent.
i started chemotherapy and we applied to any service that will help us support our little family cramped in a small apartment. we still have not heard from them but we counted our blessings because i still had my health insurance. april 27th of 2007 comes around and i got the news from my hospital of employemnt that i was being fired (and with that my benefits were terminated) because of the family leave act is 12 weeks nationwide but in my state, is 16 weeks. the hospital terminated me at the 16th week. we had no health insurance and we didn't qualify for state insurance because we had started a 401k when i started working and had a little bit of money put away ($3000) for our retirement. not enough to pay off bills but enough to pay for two more months in rent. i only needed two more months of benefits to finish my treatment and surgery. the hospital was not open to discuss my benefits at all.
it would have been $826 for cobra that we didn't have. what to do? the medical staff was very supportive, my ex-boss was very apologetic and my co-workers gave me the emotional support i needed. my little family kept me alive. there is one nurse's assistant who gave us $175 for groceries. we were so grateful that we were able to have a ham for easter. i am left with an incredible amount of bills and debt which i can only describe as "my fighting gift from the hospital."
needless to say, i am not going back to work at that hospital and instead, i am forced to do travel nursing because of the pay. i need to pay off all these bills. my husband was finally called back to his job and his boss was so apologetic. we were treated with more sympathy from my husband's job than we were from my hospital. my daughter found another job and graduated and is a massage therapist awaiting to put enough money together to get her license. this only discourages me from the nursing profession. i thought that hospitals would be good to me because i was a nurse, i became a good one and because i gave so much to my patients, i thought i would get that in return. i got friends who cared and sent me pictures of babies that were being born to my fellow nurses in my absence. i have to do travel, getting the worst assignments and being treated as an outsider (as i saw them being treated at my hospital) because i need to pay for those bills. i am so turned off by this career i am searching to see what is the best way to stay away from this and other hospitals. i don't wish this on anyone and i wish i had a better employer.
Man, I thought I had problems...nothing compared to what you've gone through. Oh Sweetie, I am so sorry you have had to endure this evil from your hospital. Unfortunately, as one poster said, I have already learned that hospitals are nothing more than greedy entities that care nothing about the ones that make them - nurses!!!! Something really good has to come your way. And from your last post, it looks like things are turning around for you. The main thing is that you are going to be ok, right? Has your doctor told you that you are cured? I will be be praying for your continued recovery, physically, mentally, and financially.
Maybe the local news station would like to hear about your story. I wish stories like this would get out to the public about hospitals. Maybe they would think twice about treating their most important employees like trash!
I didn't think you could be let go for using the family act?? any lawyers available to discuss this with you? yellow pages...
my prayers are for you
The law is that (as I understand it) your employer MUST keep your job for you while you are off. If, after 16 weeks (in this case) she cannot return to her job in full capacity then she can be terminated. If she would be able to prove that she could perform her job at her previous capacity then she might be able to fight it but it sounds like she was still doing chemo at that time and too sick to work.
I will be keeping you and your family in my prayers. You have been through so much but yet you're not bitter. You should be proud of that. Know that everyone here is rooting for you to get better and to get out of debt. I know how large amounts of debt makes you feel like you're in a whirlpool just trying to survive. You will make it and you will be a stronger person because of it.
Talk to a reporter, even if it's just the local fish wrapper. HR at the hospital may not want to pay your benefits, but if some higher up starts to smell the beginnings of a "sick nurse fired for having cancer" story, it might soften them up some.
Hospitals have never given a rat's @ss about nurses, and they never will, but they sure do care about bad publicity. And the sick irony of a nurse being fired from a hospital because she was sick, and left to twist in the wind with no benefits, might make it a more appealing story to the reporter than if you were an accountant or something.
I started writing to the attorney general in my state and I stopped because it was too much to handle but after hearing I am not alone and after hearing this being the norm for hospitals, I think it is time someone do something. I'm not bitter, I'm not a quitter but I have lived, seen, read and heard all things nurses do. They don't deserve to be treated this way, especially when they are sick. We deal with the stuff that others don't want to smell, see or hear. We are the troopers that mustard the stomach to deal with those who are dying. Why is it hospitals don't see this or understand when one of us falls into a disease? I'm sending that letter, and a cc will go to any reporter that will listen. CNN has an e-mail I can send to.
I'm still not bitter but I think it is time to stop being passive. Thanks guys. I needed you to say this for me to wake up.
I think it is an excellent idea to go to the press with your story!! Hospitals think they can treat nurses however they want and no one holds them accountable. And this nation wonders why there is a nursing shortage? Who on earth would want to work for a hospital after they did what they did to you! Make your voice heard!! I am sure I speak for many, we all support you!!
I really do not post on these forums, but your story has moved me greatly. Please know that I am praying for you. I think you have recieved excellent advice in regards to going to your local paper. Places of business really do care more about their image then about the very people that create that image. Even if it is a Catholic organization. Again, I am so sorry you had to endure what you have but remember that God will always be there for you and loves you very much. He has given you these people on this forum for the encouragement you need. May God bless you and your family !!
I can't even begin to know what you're going through and I never do. All I can say is that I'm sorry for your circumstances and admire your strength.
You're right. Nurses (really no one) should be treated this way. It really makes me mad to hear stories like this.
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ok guys! I did it! I wrote to the State Attorney and I sent copies of the letter to 7 TV stations (including CNN Headlines Robin Meade), 2 newspapers, the hospital's public relations department, the state's nursing league and the American nurses association. I sent a copy to my school just in case since they are mentioned in the letter. Does anyone know how I can post this letter in the internet? I need more nurses to read the letter and perhaps send it locally.
Thanks for your prayers and your encouragement. I believe nurses are the most gentle of creatures and the warmest. It is not wonder I got into this career.
Thank you guys and if anything else happens, I'll keep you posted.
Congratulations on your courageous moves. If your media blitz does not bring some sort of helpful response, I don't know what will. You have the emotional support of many of the members of this group. Bless you and your family.
My thoughts are with you; these types of things really make you question the law.
I don't know if I could do it because I'm more on the quiet reserved side but maybe if you told your story to the local news the hospitals would think twice about doing that type of thing. It may not help you but it may help others.
I don't mean to change the subject or seem insensitive but it makes me wonder (I am just starting my nursing pre-req's) you said you didn't have short term disability but have long term disability . . . so you get paid (a portion) until you are able to go back to work but don't have benefits???
Just wondering how disability insurance works.
I am saying a little prayer for you and your family.
NurseCherlove
367 Posts
Man, I thought I had problems...nothing compared to what you've gone through. Oh Sweetie, I am so sorry you have had to endure this evil from your hospital. Unfortunately, as one poster said, I have already learned that hospitals are nothing more than greedy entities that care nothing about the ones that make them - nurses!!!! Something really good has to come your way. And from your last post, it looks like things are turning around for you. The main thing is that you are going to be ok, right? Has your doctor told you that you are cured? I will be be praying for your continued recovery, physically, mentally, and financially.
Maybe the local news station would like to hear about your story. I wish stories like this would get out to the public about hospitals. Maybe they would think twice about treating their most important employees like trash!