A few months ago, the facility I was working at had a patient who’s family member was in a very authoritative position. While in our facility, the family member abused my patient on numerous occasions (hitting, choking, screaming, numerous bruises of unknown origin). Several events were witnessed by myself and by a few other nurses and reported accordingly. Numerous events were swept under the rug by my director and we were informed that they were not considered abuse and that “a family member has the right to force the patient to do something.”
Finally, after a particularly heinous event, administration took control and reported the events. We were all counseled on what to say to authorities and essentially still being told by our director to lie and recant our statements. Even took it as far as ripping up witness statements from previously reported events. Thankfully I maintain copies of all witness statements I complete and have them co-signed by my charge nurse on completion. The facility ended up in a lot of hot water as well as the family member.
Fast forward to now. I am by no means a superstar nurse. Of course I am flawed. But I also know that I am good at what I do. My patients love me, my coworkers love me. I have never had a single complaint from a family member, patient, or coworker up until after the abuse was reported. I’m the 4 years I had worked at this facility, I have never received a write up beyond a written warning for showing up late. But yesterday I was terminated.
To make a long story short, a patient was prescribed a new medication we did not have in house. I needed to pull from emergency supply and did. I pulled said medication and filled out necessary documentation (was not a narcotic). Later, my director followed me and claimed the medication was not given due to issues with documentation and proceeded to write me up for a single medication error. I fought back, claiming my innocence. But yesterday they terminated me for “negligence.” They stated they didn’t think I would intentionally harm my patient and that I was a good nurse so they wouldn’t pursue it criminally or with the BON but decided to part ways.
I am hurt and angry. I have given my all to this facility since I became a nurse. I am good at what I do. But most importantly, I KNOW that I gave that medication. (Patient was A&O x 1-2 at best and stated he thought he received the medication). I can’t help but believe this is retaliatory for the abuse situation given that I’ve never once received a write up previously for anything. Ordinarily I would cut my losses as I was preparing to leave in the very near future for another job. But this is a very large corporation in not just my city but my whole state and such, being ineligible for rehire makes me ineligible for employment at all facilities in the company.
So my question is this; do I have any recourse for this since I feel it was in retaliation? Or should I cut my losses and take it as a lesson learned? Thank you in advanced for any and all opinions and comments.
There needs to be a database where health care workers can post situations like this. Over time places that were especially horrible "like the one that you work" would find it increasingly more difficult to find employees. Yours is the sort of situation where I say to myself "if God made me wealthy (Bezos or even Oprah rich). I would send direct mail to everyone in there state, along with paying for investigative reports to air on the overnight "paid commercial time" and create podcasts, and pay protesters to protest in front of their facility to expose their diabolical scheme and promote the need for unions. All it would take are a few hospitals becoming unionized due to such abuse of employees and patients before hospitals would take that sort of thing much more seriously.
I do believe, by law, they cannot fire you within six months after the reported abuse; otherwise, it's considered retaliation. Did you scan the medication in the chart or at least made a nursing note for it? If you have all the documentations, you should definitely consult a lawyer. Even if you did forget to give this med to this pt, but this is only one occurrence and there is no harm to the patient occurred, it should not be a a ground for terminating you. Can you find the reason you were fired anywhere in employee's handbook or facility's policy?
Absolutely no harm was done (because they received the medication). I am trying to keep it vague but it was a medication that was initiated prior to further testing being completed, once testing was completed it was deemed the medication did not need to be given after all and subsequently discontinued the very next day. All in all, the patient received 2 doses before it was discontinued. I began the medication in the morning when I initially received the order. The facility I work at does not do electronic scanning of medications (lord do I WISH!) but there was documentation on the MAR, on paperwork that I pulled the medication from out emergency supply, another nurse who was present as I was pulling the medication, another nurse who was present as I GAVE the medication, and 2 nursing notes of my documentation on giving the medication. The grounds they had to stand on were the simple fact that my director followed me and it “appeared” that I didn’t pull the medication because suddenly my paperwork showing that I did was missing. The counts in the Emergency supply sided with my accounts and not theirs but it didn’t matter. They even tried to throw the “false documentation” card at me but instead sided for negligence. It was a single medication error had I not given the medication. I had never (knowingly) had one prior and maybe 2 months ago I had an outstanding eval. It’s just all so petty and I feel so strongly it was in retaliation because nobody gets fired over what I was fired from.
Absolutely no harm was done (because they received the medication). I am trying to keep it vague but it was a medication that was initiated prior to further testing being completed, once testing was completed it was deemed the medication did not need to be given after all and subsequently discontinued the very next day. All in all, the patient received 2 doses before it was discontinued. I began the medication in the morning when I initially received the order. The facility I work at does not do electronic scanning of medications (lord do I WISH!) but there was documentation on the MAR, on paperwork that I pulled the medication from out emergency supply, another nurse who was present as I was pulling the medication, another nurse who was present as I GAVE the medication, and 2 nursing notes of my documentation on giving the medication. The grounds they had to stand on were the simple fact that my director followed me and it “appeared” that I didn’t pull the medication because suddenly my paperwork showing that I did was missing. The counts in the Emergency supply sided with my accounts and not theirs but it didn’t matter. They even tried to throw the “false documentation” card at me but instead sided for negligence. It was a single medication error had I not given the medication. I had never (knowingly) had one prior and maybe 2 months ago I had an outstanding eval. It’s just all so petty and I feel so strongly it was in retaliation because nobody gets fired over what I was fired from.
I would suggest you go above your supervisor's supervisor, climb up the ladder and see what they'll say. Usually there is an employee relationship department where you can file complaint of what you wxperienced at work. If the higher management failed to respond, tgen consult a lawyer. This isn't a simple fire. Any facility associated with this one is not going to hire you. It's not petty. You let this one pass, next time facing the same situation, are you going to pretend you didn't witness the abuse or you are going to report it again? What if you are terminated again for reporting? Look ito the state law. At least in New York, employee cannot be terminated within 6 months after reporting abuse, or it'll be considered retaliation. Most states have similar law regarding reporting abuse. If you consult a lawyer, do it as soon as you can.
Your supervisor is lying. How on earth she randomly followed you? She had no proof that you did not give the medication. It's her words against yours. The fact that the paper bith you and the other nurse signed disappear is very scary. She is forging legal documentation. This sounds like a nursing home. I worked at one before. When you pull any medication from the emergent kit, two nurses need to sign it.
I would suggest you go above your supervisor's supervisor, climb up the ladder and see what they'll say. Usually there is an employee relationship department where you can file complaint of what you wxperienced at work. If the higher management failed to respond, tgen consult a lawyer. This isn't a simple fire. Any facility associated with this one is not going to hire you. It's not petty. You let this one pass, next time facing the same situation, are you going to pretend you didn't witness the abuse or you are going to report it again? What if you are terminated again for reporting? Look ito the state law. At least in New York, employee cannot be terminated within 6 months after reporting abuse, or it'll be considered retaliation. Most states have similar law regarding reporting abuse. If you consult a lawyer, do it as soon as you can.
The one thing that I will always stand by is doing what’s right. I’m saddened and angered by the fact that I was terminated for what I feel like was advocating for my patient and their safety and well-being but I also can sleep better at night knowing that I did what was best for my patient. I have reached out to a lawyer just to run my case by them and see what they say. I also plan on calling and speaking with HR myself tomorrow to see what can be said. Obviously I know to play it smart because they aren’t on my side either but at least I can put my side out there.
Your supervisor is lying. How on earth she randomly followed you? She had no proof that you did not give the medication. It's her words against yours. The fact that the paper bith you and the other nurse signed disappear is very scary. She is forging legal documentation. This sounds like a nursing home. I worked at one before. When you pull any medication from the emergent kit, two nurses need to sign it.
Unfortunately in our facility only one nurse needs to sign for a non narcotic medication. There was a nurse near me while pulling the medication (and I can tell you the exact conversation we had ABOUT the med I was pulling as I was pulling it) but that is irrelevant to my case because it is 100% a he said/she said. It IS scary that the paperwork disappeared though but it is not shocking. My initial witness statement about the abuse allegations when I first brought attention to them went “missing” as well when authorities questioned my director about it. They tried to accuse me of never turning them in. Thankfully I maintain all co-signed copies in a personal file and was able to produce them. That incident I reported that made it no farther than my director was way past the limit to report to the health department so of course they wanted to hide that documentation. There is so much more that I feel I can not safely put on here, but most horror stories you hear about this sort of thing really did happen to me.
Not HR,they are not your supervisor's supervisor. File complaint to the upper management and the headquater and give them a timeframe to respond. Tell them if they do not respond within the timeframe, you are going to report it to the state. There is an organization called department of public health in each state regulating this kind of case and will do investigation, but you have to report it within 30 days of the retaliation happened. If you are positive of all the documentation you did, you definitely have a case against your employer. Cannot let this kind of behavior slip away. If you do, better quit nursing altogether. Going to the lawyer, going to the public. This isn't a threat. The society needs to know such a facility where they hide elderly abuse.
Not HR,they are not your supervisor's supervisor. File complaint to the upper management and the headquater and give them a timeframe to respond. Tell them if they do not respond within the timeframe, you are going to report it to the state. There is an organization called department of public health in each state regulating this kind of case and will do investigation, but you have to report it within 30 days of the retaliation happened. If you are positive of all the documentation you did, you definitely have a case against your employer. Cannot let this kind of behavior slip away. If you do, better quit nursing altogether. Going to the lawyer, going to the public. This isn't a threat. The society needs to know such a facility where they hide elderly abuse.
I would have to do some hunting at headquarters because I wouldn’t even know who to initially speak with. My administrator is more than aware considering she was on the conference call to terminate me. I have contacted a lawyer so I plan on speaking with him to definitively know how to proceed. I don’t want to blacklist myself any more than I already am but I also do know that I need to advocate not only for the remainder of those patients but also for myself and the other nurses. I may not be perfect but I am meticulous about my documentation and maintaining copies of necessary documents
Any complaint you need to file, watch the time. Do it as soon as you can even if just anonymously, at least establish the case. You are not going back to that place anyway, and it made you not rehirable within their network. It is a huge damage to you.
myoglobin, ASN, BSN, MSN
1,453 Posts
There needs to be a database where health care workers can post situations like this. Over time places that were especially horrible "like the one that you work" would find it increasingly more difficult to find employees. Yours is the sort of situation where I say to myself "if God made me wealthy (Bezos or even Oprah rich). I would send direct mail to everyone in there state, along with paying for investigative reports to air on the overnight "paid commercial time" and create podcasts, and pay protesters to protest in front of their facility to expose their diabolical scheme and promote the need for unions. All it would take are a few hospitals becoming unionized due to such abuse of employees and patients before hospitals would take that sort of thing much more seriously.