Has anyone seen, heard or read anything about a nurse being fired from an Ottawa, IL nursing home after reporting insufficient staffing and resident injuries to IL State authorities?
My mom told me there was an article in the local paper (The Ottawa Daily Times), but I can't access their website without paying a registration fee.
I don't want to give the name of the facility here, but I have a friend who used to work there, and recommended the facility. She retired a few years ago. I't sad to see how quickly things can go downhill, especially in LTC.
This gets a little confusing, but even in "at will" states, there ARE unacceptable reasons for firing someone.
In an "at will" state, neither the employee nor the employer is required to give a reason or notice for terminating employment. You can walk into work one day and be told that you are fired, with no reason given. Likewise, you can go into work one day and tell your employer that you are finished without offering a reason or notice. That is legally permissable, but probably not very smart career-wise, in terms of finding future employment.
But there are certain reasons for termination that are unacceptable. If you are dismissed because of your race, or because of "whistle-blowing" for example, you do have recourse against your employer. No employer is going to tell you that you are being fired because of your race or because you reported unprofessional conduct to the State BON, so you have to be able to prove your case in court. But, even in an "at will" state, you do have some (minimal) protections.
Breach of Contract occurs often in nursing. It has not been challenged in court as such because of lack of evidence. The other obstacle is the "employment at will" concept. So how do we go about finding the evidence and making a case for motive? My last paper, "Nursing as a Function of Time", gave you the tools, the math to make the case.
When an employer hires a nurse or a nursing assistant they hire them to perform the job of one person. They cannot hire them to do the job of two people. When two parties meet the potential employee and the employer a contract is entered into, if the employer hires an employee into a position they are not able to perform because it is physically impossible for any employee to do so, they have entered the contract in "bad faith". Beyond this, the nurse or nursing assistant have been entered into a fraud scheme.
The case
A nursing assistant is hired in a nursing home, after a few weeks on the job she goes to management to complain about the workload. She is terminated. The NA seeks counsel. The lack of evidence proves too much for the attorney, the profit margin on the case is unattractive and the case is turned down. The nursing assistant is informed that she has no legal remedy. This is malpractice-she does-but not with this attorney.
An analysis of the job reveals the following; the NA is complaining because she has 24 to 26 patients routinely and is unable to provide care.
Using the information in "Nursing as a Function of Time" (http://www.nursewise.com) a time study is conducted as follows.
A NA has 480 minutes of time available in a shift (this assumes 100% of her time applied to the patients). We know that 60% of the NA time is used up walking, that is 288 minutes. That leaves 192 minutes available for patient care. Since slavery has been outlawed, the NA is entitled to two ten-minute-breaks and three one-minute breaks for bodily functions, for a total of 23 minutes. That leaves 169 minutes.
Given 24 patients a list of some of the job functions are itemized; Turn, Water, Feed, Vital Signs, Chem-sticks, documentation, trays, visitors, nurses, hand-washing.
Turn patients (every 2 hours at 3 minutes per patient) = 288 minutes
This is calculated by multiplying the number of patients 24, by 4 the number of turns, and multiplying by the time in minutes it takes to accomplish the task. This involves getting linen, pads, and the skin assessment, cleaning the patient, applying lotions, removing the dirty linen, and repositioning the patient.
Water = 72 minutes
This is calculated by multiplying the number of patients 24 by 3 minutes. This task involves picking up the water pitchers, filling them up and giving the patient a drink of water.
Feed = 72 minutes
This involves getting the trays, distributing the trays, and feeding those patients that need help.
Visitors = 24 minutes
This involves talking to the visitors and family and answering any questions they might have, or assistance they may require.
Nurses = 12 minutes
This involves communicating with the nursing staff.
Hand-washing = 24 minutes
Vital Signs = 12 minutes
Chem-sticks = 12 minutes
Total = 516 minutes
This does not include I & O's, baths, and documentation.
As can be seen the NA has 169 minutes of patient care time but requires 516 minutes this is an impossible task. It doesn't matter if the employee is the worse in the world or the best in the world. This position requires three people to accomplish the task.
If this is not convincing enough the problem can be approached by using the Nurse Clock. 60 minutes divided by 24 patients = 2.5 minutes per patient per hour. For the expediency, 50% of the NA time is used for walking, that means you have 1.25 minutes per patient per hour, multiply this by 8 hours and this gives you 10 minutes per patient, you have 24 patients, which gives you 240 minutes. This means that the NA only has 240 minutes or half her shift to complete the tasks. It is mathematically and physically impossible for any human being to do this. Any attempt to try result in death or injury to the NA, the patient or both. Competency is not even relevant.
The evidence is clear the employer has entered into the working contract in bad faith and when the NA complains the termination is breach of contract. If it can be shown that management did this to coincide with their financial statements a motive exist. The patients are defrauded because they are not getting the care they paid for. The NA is defrauded because she was hired to do the work of two people.
Should the attorney refuse the case individual can go to Small Claims Court for any amount up to $5000 dollars depending on the state. Should the individual require self-help, Nolo Press sells a do it yourself book. Other options are the union, ACLU, and legal aid.
suebird3
4,007 Posts
Haven't heard that. Interesting.