Is leaving before hurricane abandonment?

Nurses General Nursing

Updated:   Published

Hello all, so I am located at the very end of south Florida near the keys! My question is simply this, I'm supposed to work weekend during this hurricane which some are saying could be deadly. I have a small child and his safety is my priority. I want to evacuate but my job is saying that they could report me for abandonment. I really don't understand how because if I leave from my house, how have I abandoned their residents?? I am an LPN btw

Specializes in ICU; Telephone Triage Nurse.

I can't see how they can fire you for evacuating for your personal safety due to a possibly deadly hurricane - WTH? You're not a person that matters too?

I'd say they don't have a legal leg to stand on to call it abandonment. It's not like you are on duty then vanished without handing over report to another nurse. That's abandonment.

I'd go if it was me and I had a child that age still. No question.

I think administration is trying to frighten you due to the high stakes - who else would care for pt's if all staff evacuated? How best to scare a nurse than to threaten to report you to the SBON for abandonment? They many have to evacuate too and want help moving everyone. Not your concern - your immediate concern is the safety of your family and yourself. Everything else can be worked out later.

Go - now!

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Wait....the hospital didn't evacuate? I'd say they are liable for endangering lives.

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Wow I'm astonished at some of the comments on here. Also do you all realize that there is literally no gas right now? And that drive to Atlanta that may normally take 9ish hours (depending on where they live) would take probably 3 times that? Even if she had attempted to leave earlier she would've had to have called out at least 2 days just to take her kid to Atlanta. And probably would've gotten in trouble for that too. And yes we've known about the storm but if you haven't noticed there were about 361842 different possible paths, and it's continually changing. People who evacuated from the east coast to the west coast of the state were under the impression it'd be safer there, but now Irma is going to hit the west side even harder. Maybe you don't think she made the best decisions, but who knows what her circumstances are that prevented her from doing all the things some have so unkindly suggested. Good luck to all my fellow Floridians!

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GatorsPCA said:
Even if she had attempted to leave earlier she would've had to have called out at least 2 days just to take her kid to Atlanta. And probably would've gotten in trouble for that too.

The round trip by air is only a few hours each way. Could easily be done in less than a day.

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Empty threat. It is not Abandonment until you have taken report on a patient & assumed specific responsibility for the person.

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Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.
dstee009 said:
If you are a HEALTH CARE worker then you know the dangers going in. Do what you want but you are not very good at your job if you want to flee when there could be danger. We are there to help those in need, imo, you are selfish and need not be in health care if your first instinct isn't to stay. get your family out or bring them to the hospital with you. People like OP are in it for the money, plain and simple. If you truly care about what you do as an RN, Dr. etc. then you wouldnt be TRYING to run. you would be trying to stay. I say all this as someone that sent my wife north a few days ago and without hesitation stayed to work through the storm here in Florida. if the medical field in the worst of times isn't for you, then you need to find another career.

This isn't a marriage. I didn't take nursing vows. Lets not even talk about the "oath" of nursing.

I used to live in Florida and if I still did, I would have stayed and worked this weekend, but somebody better be paying me.

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Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.
elkpark said:
The round trip by air is only a few hours each way. Could easily be done in less than a day.

Unfortunately, people are finding that flights are either canceled or costs thousands of dollars. I read somewhere that some tourists who are trying to get home are stuck at the airport and unable to get flights and don't know where else to go. Can't confirm, but I believe it.

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Specializes in ED, psych.
dstee009 said:
If you are a HEALTH CARE worker then you know the dangers going in. Do what you want but you are not very good at your job if you want to flee when there could be danger. We are there to help those in need, imo, you are selfish and need not be in health care if your first instinct isn't to stay. get your family out or bring them to the hospital with you. People like OP are in it for the money, plain and simple. If you truly care about what you do as an RN, Dr. etc. then you wouldnt be TRYING to run. you would be trying to stay. I say all this as someone that sent my wife north a few days ago and without hesitation stayed to work through the storm here in Florida. if the medical field in the worst of times isn't for you, then you need to find another career.

Well goody for you.

I'm from the NE, so I'm not even going to pretend what it must feel like to be in the evacuation zone, Florida, or anywhere in the SE for that matter.

But I thought being a nurse also included empathy ... which you so clearly seem to lack.

While the OP should've/could've/would've been more prepared ... you're still not the OP. So instead of belting out from your high horse how superior you must feel to her, keep it to yourself or maybe wish your fellow Floridians the much needed good luck and vibes, prayers, what have you they need?

And I, for one, do my job for the money. Just saying.

To all you out there in the evacuation zones, warnings, and watches ... my prayers are with you all.

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Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.
3ringnursing said:

I think administration is trying to frighten you due to the high stakes - who else would care for pt's if all staff evacuated? How best to scare a nurse than to threaten to report you to the SBON for abandonment? They many have to evacuate too and want help moving everyone. Not your concern - your immediate concern is the safety of your family and yourself. Everything else can be worked out later.

Go - now!

But then who SHOULD stay and evacuate patients or care for them if they can't be evacuated? Should they just be left to fend for themselves? Its not an easy question....

A related question - should all law enforcement and fire personnel also leave? What would happen if no emergency workers stayed? I am particularly thinking about what that would mean for immediately after the storm when people may need help...and nobody who evacuated can get back right away. So what happens if everyone who could help left? It's easy to say "well those people should have evacuated, so its their problem", but there are always some that can't or won't. So then...what should we do?

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Julius Seizure said:
But then who SHOULD stay and evacuate patients or care for them if they can't be evacuated? Should they just be left to fend for themselves? Its not an easy question....

A related question - should all law enforcement and fire personnel also leave? What would happen if no emergency workers stayed? I am particularly thinking about what that would mean for immediately after the storm when people may need help...and nobody who evacuated can get back right away. So what happens if everyone who could help left? It's easy to say "well those people should have evacuated, so its their problem", but there are always some that can't or won't. So then...what should we do?

Some careers involve an inherent risk to life and limb, and so asking those people to risk life and limb is not a big change. Nursing is not one of those professions. I can certainly understand the thought that hurricanes are part of life in Florida and SOMEBODY needs to help keep patients safe during disasters, but I don't believe being an RN (or LPN) inherently obligates one to place patients' safety above their own.

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Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.
NotAllWhoWandeRN said:
Some careers involve an inherent risk to life and limb, and so asking those people to risk life and limb is not a big change. Nursing is not one of those professions. I can certainly understand the thought that hurricanes are part of life in Florida and SOMEBODY needs to help keep patients safe during disasters, but I don't believe being an RN (or LPN) inherently obligates one to place patients' safety above their own.

I agree. I didn't sign up to be an RN to martyr myself, and I don't think that I am obligated to put my job above my personal life.

I guess I was asking it more in an abstract/hypothetical (?) way. As in, there is no perfect solution, so then what SHOULD we/Florida/the community do?

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CNAbutLPN2be2017 said:
My husband is a correctional officer so he Might have to stay until this thing is over as well. My closest relative lives in Atlanta but I'd have to drive up there and drop him off. I'm supposed to work tomorrow so I pretty much I have to make a decision now because I won't be driving bs k if I do

Leave Op! Get out now!

A job is A job! Good luck!

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