Nurse files lawsuit over firing

Published

Nurse Sues St. Francis, Claims She Lost Job After Saving Patient's Life

Hartford Courant

Specializes in MICU, SICU, CICU.

As did the ER staff who were reckless and removed the pulse generator and cables.

The pt went from a 249 bed hospital to a 617 bed hospital to receive a higher, not lower, level of care. The CMS should fine every MD at this receiving hospital under EMTALA and the management officials for failing to provide necessary equipment and training.

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Specializes in Emergency Room, Trauma ICU.
As did the ER staff who removed the pulse generator and cables.

Yes blame everyone but the nurse who screwed up and got fired.

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Specializes in MICU, SICU, CICU.
Yes blame everyone but the nurse who screwed up and got fired.

No, identify the root cause and contributing factors so that it never happens again. It all started in that ER.

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Specializes in Emergency Room, Trauma ICU.
No, identify the root cause and contributing factors so that it never happens again. It all started in that ER.

You're assuming again. We only have the article to go from and you're just making up scenarios so it's not the nurses fault. It doesn't matter what did it didn't happen in the ER, ambulance or other hospital. Bottom line is the pt was stable in the ICU with the external pacers. There was no need to strip wires for the internal pacer.

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Specializes in Education.
Since when do EMTs manage transvenous pacemakers?

External pacing for symptomatic bradycardia most certainly is emergent. And painful.

Transferring a patient to a unit or department where the staff don't know the difference or know how to manage a TVP is the wrong level of care which is the very definition of an EMTALA violation.

What if that was your parent who required a TVP due to a new Mobitz II or 3rd degree block in the setting of a myocardial infarction with hemodynamic instability. Not emergent?

Let's turn it off and see what happens?

EMTs don't manage transvenous pacemakers. The transport nurse that I'd've hoped been there, however, would. When it comes to journalists, I don't think that they really care too much about the specifics outside of "ambulance crew."

Granted, I'm just going off the protocols that I used a while ago, but interfacility transfers are done by ambulance crews that can include nurses. And for a critical patient, unless it was a very short ride, there was a nurse on board.

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Specializes in Maternity.

Hopefully we will get more information. At this point it's just speculation and your right an ambulance crew could mean anything.

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

Why didn't she put the external pacer on? Our defibrillators have the option to pace vs. shock. Seems a lot safer than playing electrician

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Specializes in MICU, SICU, CICU.
You're assuming again. We only have the article to go from and you're just making up scenarios so it's not the nurses fault. It doesn't matter what did it didn't happen in the ER, ambulance or other hospital. Bottom line is the pt was stable in the ICU with the external pacers. There was no need to strip wires for the internal pacer.

You have not stated one factual piece of information just your opinion that a ICU nurse screwed up and your inability to see the big picture and your lack of knowledge of AHA guidelines.

On that note I am blocking you as I am tired of your trolling in this and other threads.

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Specializes in Emergency Room, Trauma ICU.
Why didn't she put the external pacer on? Our defibrillators have the option to pace vs. shock. Seems a lot safer than playing electrician

The article states the pt was being externally paced. That's why the nurse was way outside her scope. If this pt had been coding and they were out of options, then I could see them trying to rig a set up, but that's not the case. It would be nice to have more info.

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Specializes in Emergency Room, Trauma ICU.
You have not stated one factual piece of information just your opinion that a ICU nurse screwed up and your lack of knowledge of AHA guidelines.

On that note I am blocking you as I am tired of your trolling. You have nothing of value to contribute to this discussion.

Wow, disagreeing with you equals troll?? That's just...sad.

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Specializes in MICU, SICU, CICU.
Hopefully we will get more information. At this point it's just speculation and your right an ambulance crew could mean anything.

If a transport nurse or paramedic from Manchester Hospital abandoned the patient without a life sustaining pulse generator, then he or she is liable as well.

A pulse generator was removed from a patient in symptomatic bradycardia in the ER.

This mess was dumped in the ICU.

An ICU nurse, who no doubt had her back up against the wall, made a huge mistake and tried to make an incompatible TVP compatible with the available equipment with the MDs approval.

As I said on page one, the nurse was wrong to Maguyver that equipment. I would not do it.

There is plenty of blame to go around in terms of EMTALA violations, negligent ER staff, Cardiology, ICU and admitting MDs.

I would love to review that chart.

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Specializes in Maternity.

ICUMaggie... I'm not an ICU nurse so I have absolutely no expertise in this area. My previous post was in no way meant to seem like I was disagreeing with you. I was just commenting that journalists do have a tendency to not accurately identify the specific type of health care provider in their reporting. When I posted this story I had no idea that it would become so heated.

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