Is a Surgeon accountable for slander??

[lorster]

I'm not sure if this is the right area to post this question but here goes anyway. A few months ago, I reported a surgeon to the hospital for lying to me over the phone about a patient. Me and the supervisor caught him in a lie that involved a patient safety issue. A week later my charge nurse privileges were removed because "you seem to be having physician conflicts lately" A meeting was scheduled with this physician in which 3 of my supervisors, managers and three physicians attended. During the meeting, the surgeon in question announced to the group that I had a 100 percent complication rate. When asked to clarify his statement, the physician stated, "Lets put it this way, if this nurse(me) takes care of one of my patients, there is a 100 percent chance that there will be a complication". I was devastated and thought I had harmed or possibly caused the death of a patient and never heard about it. I left the meeting and my managers supported me in telling this physician that i was a good nurse. It has been a few months and in that time I have gone to the hospital administration and requested that this surgeon be held accountable for the statements he made that day in the meeting. The hospital wrote him a letter and informed him that he now must prove his statements made against me. The hospital psychologist came to me yesterday to tell me that the surgeon never even acknowledged their letter and now the hospital is just gonna let it go...no action will be taken against this surgeon. Well, I'm very angry. My hospital started the process and now they have allowed this doctor to not only abuse me but he can now feel free to abuse another nurse in the future. Do I just drop it and let it go and move on? Or do I stand up for what I believe and do something that will prevent this from happening to another nurse in the future? Where do we draw the line? This surgeon slandered me and now I can't be charge anymore and all because I opened my mouth in the name of patient safety. Please help. Sorry so long.

[limabean]

That is a rough situation to be in. But you know if it were the other way around and you had slandered the doctor (like telling a patient they should not go to that particular doctor) then you would most likely be held responsible by your hospital. Money, money, money is all the world seems to think about. And the physicians are the ones that bring in the money.

It is easy to say that you should not let this one go...but it is going to be rough if you choose to follow the legal path. Good luck to you....you dont deserve the treatment you are getting!

[cwazycwissyRN, RN]

I have a question. Was your charge nurse status reinstated . Actions speak louder than words. If management is truly supporting the nursing staff, rather than words of reassurance, reinstatement as a charge nurse would send the message without a law suite or words. If you are not in a charge position now and there is not a valid reason as to why, I would be temped to appoach management and recieve input as to why not.

The issue at hand here, seems to have been conveniently dismissed. In the beginning you were being a pt. advocate. The issue was a Dr. "lie" about a pt. This issue seems to have been replaced with the issue of whether you are a good nurse. The original dr.s behavior has been given permission to be repeated. It has been dropped

Don't ya hate it when this happens :icon_hug:

[lorster]

Well, the manager that took away my charge privilages was fired/quit...something, not sure but she all of a sudden is no longer there as of 2 weeks ago. So, yes, the interim management is reinstating my privilages as well as making many other changes that are benefiting us as a staff and morale has much improved on the floor. As for the surgeon, he is under hospital disciplinary action by the hospital for multiple problems that they have encountered with him. As to what I'm gonna do...Nothing. I have started a letter adressed to the hospital stating my disappointment in their dropping action against him. I guess my complaint is at the bottom of a whole long list of problems that they are dealing with. A manager told me that it will all be taken care of...but so far, I don't see that. He is still practicing at the hospital and has improved his attitude. Of course, he won't look at me or speak to me and if I ask him about the patient, he directs me to the supervisor. How immature. It speaks volumes about him as far as I'm concerned. I guess time will work the whole thing out. I just need to focus on my own care and leave the problems there when I leave. I have decided that what goes on at work, just is not a huge issue in my life and now when I walk out of that place, I leave it all there. I just do not see any other way of handling this because as others have posted, it would be a long, expensive, stressful process and I would probably somehow end up jobless. This probably sounds like a powerless attitude on my part, but it is about the dollar and a nurse is expendable where a doctor brings in the bucks. That really is the bottom line and we all know it. But you know, if all 95 of our staff walked out, could the hospital still function? How important would we all of a sudden become?