Judge Rules Against Georgia Nurses: Athens Hospital Accused of Manipulating COVID-19 Test Results

[ganurses123]

Nursing is hard enough without having to deal with this ...

These nurses are some very brave souls to fight the Hospital administrators, some doctors, and the government in this small Georgia hospital.

'I think the judge is wrong': Nurses lose against Athens hospital accused of manipulating COVID-19 test results

[Nurse GreenBean, ASN, RN]

16 minutes ago, ganurses123 said:

These nurses are some very brave souls to fight the Hospital administrators, some doctors, and the government in this small Georgia hospital.

https://www.11alive.com/mobile/article/news/investigations/the-reveal/judge-rules-on-athens-nurse-lawsuit-against-landmark-hospital/85-3099b1ab-0041-421e-abeb-7edb55868b30

That is incredibly disturbing.

what’s even more disturbing is that the health depot found nothing when they are clearly misrepresenting patient medical samples.

[scribblz, BSN, CNA, LPN]

WOW! this hospital sounds so sketchy... can't believe DPH didn't find anything when they went in. Sounds like the judge disregarded evidence the nurse's brought based on a technicality.

[ganurses123]

The DPH just didn’t look! After reading their report it’s apparent that they only asked to see paperwork regarding policies and procedures for infection control and nursing services. OSHA let the nurses down too as well as the Dept of health and human services.

[Altrix, APRN, NP, CNM]

I know this facility well enough to say I'm not surprised. I AM surprised that they didn't even bother to investigate the nurses side of the story. Well, maybe "surprised" is a strong word, disappointed is better. Nurses aren't taken seriously enough. These whistleblowing nurses should be protected.

[NurseNcharge]

Nursing during a pandemic is hard enough without having to fight admin !! Why having they have not closed the doors and locked this Down !

[ganurses123]

UPDATE:

These nurses who reported their hospital to multiple government agencies with no action from the government. The hospital was falsely identifying tracheal samples as nasal samples. Tellingly anytime someone has tested positive with a correctly identified nasal sample the hospital administrators have went behind this positive result and retested the patient to secure a negative with the falsely identified specimen. The judge dismissed the portion of the suit that requested an emergency restraining order to stop the actions of the hospital but the rest of the suit still stands. The nurses are getting sued by the hospital and it breaks my heart that these Whistleblowers are being broken down by a giant team of attorneys probably getting paid $400/hr just for one attorney! The hospitals attorneys are saying the Nurses don’t have a right to bring suit against the hospital because the patients or the government could. Well I’ll tell you what. These nurses are patient advocates so how do they not have a right to fight on behalf of their patients?!!

See article: Judge denies nurses' restraining order request in Landmark Hospital of Athens case

[ganurses123]

My advice is if you see something terribly wrong just ignore it or you’ll get sued and be fired by your employer. They have more money and more lawyers than you could even imagine. They will beat you down and make you regret becoming a nurse.

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

I disagree. As patient advocated nurses must do the right thing. Sadly nurses have been terminated for reporting wrongs done by employers and physicians.

Here are links to previous discussions here:

What Would Happen if You Blew the Whistle on Your Employer?

TX Nurses facing criminal charges for reporting doctor - Outcome: Dismissed/acquittal

Quote

Whistle-Blowing Nurse Is Acquitted in Texas

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/us/12nurses.html

[ganurses123]

Well there are 5 nurses I know who were bullied for speaking out, then suspended, still bullied on social media and in the community, then sued, and now fired.

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

12 minutes ago, ganurses123 said:

Well there are 5 nurses I know who were bullied for speaking out, then suspended, still bullied on social media and in the community, then sued, and now fired.

I am so very sorry. Did one or more consult an attorney?

[ganurses123]

Yes and most of the bullying and suspensions and firing has happened while they had attorneys. The $500/hr hospitals attorney’s are putting these nurses through the ringer. It’s awful. No government agency cares and I've tried and tried to reach out to nursing organizations for them and nothing from them either.