I am looking for some insight into retaliation acts by employers.I am a RN in a ICU setting at a major teaching hospital.I have been a resource to my entire unit.I received a promotion only weeks ago.I received a email from my unit manager only hours before she fired me "thanking me" for my dedication to the new nursing staff. I have never been written up, never a verbal warning.My evaluations have been excellent in all my years at this hospital. Until this past month....
I voiced my concerns over some incompetency acts performed by a coworker-nurse. These were acts that were not merely mistakes...they were acts that could have resulted in patient death. I tried to set a meeting with my nurse manager to discuss this nurses incompetent level of function...and I was met with a date to come in for a termination meeting...mine!
This nurse was the nurse managers best friend and recently was her assistant manager.She had done office work for years and had not taken care of any actual patient in years. When she opted to go back into staffing she "refused " to "accept" any orientation....and so she was left to learn by trial and error.In a ICU setting...thats just wrong!Othernurses had complained to the nurse manager to no avail...but I am a lil different.I have a history of being a strong patient advocate and I had told the nurse who was functioning incompetently that I was left with no choice but to go to our risk management dept re: her unsafe pratices.Hours later....I was "fired" for an alledged documentation error. This same kind of documentation error has resulted in no disciplinary action for other employees.Secondly ...my chart had been altered after I left...so I actually never had a documentation error.I dont know what to do. I have been a model employee for years.I have asked for dispute resolution....but they keep postphoning the dispute resolution hearing. What actually happens in a dispute resolution hearing? Are they a sham?Do you have any advice? I feel like I have been incredibly niave.Like I should have seenit coming...but didnt.
There needs to be whistleblowers protections in areas OUTSIDE of federal agencies. You may actually have some recourse under a whistleblowers law somewhere...I'm not a lawyer so I don't know what that law would be, but a good labor law attorney would know. It's possible - since the hospital takes payments from the federal government (ie: medicare) that there may some govt. agency whistleblowers protection there.
I absolutely believe you should fight this in court. But don't stop there - keep telling your story, keep motivating others to get these sorts of laws passed and stay active in your local and national organizations.
This proves it....I am niave and gullible.I truly believed they were interested in actually investigating what occurred.Only one party was actually listening(I think) to what I was actually saying.All the loyalty ...I have had for this institution...is slipping away. I have always been such a huge patient safety advocate. Numerous new protocols& items in this ICU are because I have requested them to ensure patient safety.What I had to do ( bringing this forward to the only dept that could/would make an intervention)...wasnt a position I wanted to be in...I didnt "ASK" for this. I was placed in a position of either turning away and ignoring it,..or doing the correct ethical thing and speaking out. I spoke out.....and both me and my family have paid for it.
Guage14...I will take your advice and sleep on this for a day or two. I do have an excellent attorney.He is great...has a strong ethical core also.So..I will follow his advice.After looking at my former employers web site...I was directed to a site...that has all the laws that they must adhere to.Unfortunately....they have broken an awful lot of them with me.Too bad for them.I think the last one was the Patient safety and Quality Improvement Act that President Bush just signed into law this year that makes it illegal to fire an employee for bringing forth patient safety issues.Then there are the Common Law Torts...Retaliatory Discharge...etc etc. I was an excellent employee...who is known for my excellent ICU skills and knowledge.This NM just wrote a long glowing letter outlining all my wonderful qualities only weeks prior to firing me.Letter was for a promotion in which I of course got.So...now what is she trying to say?That I suck as a nurse?She...needs to figure out which lies,.. in all this mess she wants to go with...bc ...she is getting me way too confused.lol. Seriously though...you were right... :crying2:
I would like to offer you some comfort - I know the words ring hollow right now, but they meant a lot to me after the fact when I found myself in a situation that was not as bad as yours but which led me to doubt my capability as a nurse and even as a person.
You are NOT that institutions opinion. You are not that managers opinion, You are not what they say or what they would try to make you believe you are. You are an excellent nurse with strong skills, good judgement, incredible loyalty to your patients and a WILL that will make you a leader. DONT GIVE UP.
In the situation I was in - a manager tried to tell me I just "wasn't cut out for nursing" because they had given my job away while I was out on disability after a very serious car accident (I was hit by a drunk driver at 70 mph head on). I still remember that *itches face as she said those words...I was ready to leave nursing right then and there. I went home and cried for a week. When I threatened to sue under the FMLA, they told me they did have a comparable position open - it was nights in the OR. (You tell me just how a night job in the OR compares to a day job in the ER)
Thankfully - one physician whom I worked closely with and who was not an employee of the hospital pulled me aside and sat me down - I bawled my eyes out the whole time he talked....(makes me tear up now just thinking about it and this was over 12 years ago). "Don't you dare listen to her or her cronies - you are one of the best nurses I have ever worked with, yes you are new (I had only been out of school a year or so) but you are awesome! Just because this manager is an idiot DONT LET HER TAKE THIS AWAY FROM YOU. You have worked hard and you deserve to have better". He was kind enough to write me a glowing recommendation letter.
I went to a bigger better place and got a bigger better job and learned bigger better things and let me tell you - I dont look back at that little He77 hole hospital very often...
I know things stink right now - you are in the middle of the pit and it's hard to see out. Although you cannot imagine what this will make of you in the future, you have the choice to use it, or let it use you. I have the feeling you will do something with this that even you could not have imagined. I'm looking forward to seeing just what that will be!
This proves it....I am niave and gullible.I truly believed they were interested in actually investigating what occurred.Only one party was actually listening(I think) to what I was actually saying.All the loyalty ...I have had for this institution...is slipping away. I have always been such a huge patient safety advocate. Numerous new protocols& items in this ICU are because I have requested them to ensure patient safety.What I had to do ( bringing this forward to the only dept that could/would make an intervention)...wasnt a position I wanted to be in...I didnt "ASK" for this. I was placed in a position of either turning away and ignoring it,..or doing the correct ethical thing and speaking out. I spoke out.....and both me and my family have paid for it.
Guage14...I will take your advice and sleep on this for a day or two. I do have an excellent attorney.He is great...has a strong ethical core also.So..I will follow his advice.After looking at my former employers web site...I was directed to a site...that has all the laws that they must adhere to.Unfortunately....they have broken an awful lot of them with me.Too bad for them.I think the last one was the Patient safety and Quality Improvement Act that President Bush just signed into law this year that makes it illegal to fire an employee for bringing forth patient safety issues.Then there are the Common Law Torts...Retaliatory Discharge...etc etc. I was an excellent employee...who is known for my excellent ICU skills and knowledge.This NM just wrote a long glowing letter outlining all my wonderful qualities only weeks prior to firing me.Letter was for a promotion in which I of course got.So...now what is she trying to say?That I suck as a nurse?She...needs to figure out which lies,.. in all this mess she wants to go with...bc ...she is getting me way too confused.lol. Seriously though...you were right... :crying2:
I hope you saved all of your commendations and performance evaluations. My sister did, and it enabled her to win an out-of-court settlement when her employer terminated her for so-called "poor performance" That was total B.S. for, like you, she got into trouble for "rocking the boat". She got the last word, and SO WILL YOU!
File and lawsuit and make it public. People in the community have a right to know what is happening there. As you said, what if it was you or a family member? Forget reinstatement and hearings- you're just getting the run around and even if you get your job back, nothing will really change- in fact, it will probably be worse and they will look for any little mistake you ever make to fire you again and management will resent you. I can tell from your post that you love nursing and helping people. Even so, consider this- a couple million in the bank (from winning your lawsuit- which you know you would) couldn't hurt either. Take them to the cleaners for their unethical and dangerous practices. Later, after getting your fat settlement check, you can speak out all you want at any job because if they fire you...oh well.
i am sorry you had to experience the scam hearing; it has to be experienced to be believed. take your righteous indignation and run with it. "success is your best revenge." every time in my life when people have tried to take me down by behaving in a spiteful and dishonorable way i have managed to move past all the obstacles they put in front of me. perhaps i am just stubborn with the tenacity of a cornered rat, but i am a survivor. latter i look back at my adversaries and think; "you are trailing in my wake," (an old sea dog expression.
this time around it has been the longest, toughest battle of my life, but i will not let it consume me. as i work towards justice i try not to loose sight of other goals like my humanitarian ambitions. working on other causes, especially my stint in aceh after the tsunami, has helped to stem the pain of personal losses. however i will never give up fighting to reveal the truth and obtain some level of accountability from my former hospital. it's so sickening to have to choke down the sanctimonious preaching of "america's best hospital" knowing the hypocrisy behind their hype.
you are a survivor too so do not let this ludicrous "hearing" dissuade you from pursuing the truth. document everything and get ready for the next round. they will use stalling tactics to slow the process down as this acts in their favor. it is amazing how quickly those tactics pay off for the hospital and agencies start saying well it was "x" many months ago. there are also statutes of limitations to consider and they provide a perilously small window of opportunity, hence the hospital's delays. on the one hand they so called "whistleblower" protections expect you to follow normal channels first on the other they say you should have acted sooner. the hospital knows all the tricks to play this game; do not let them stall for time. pick yourself up, dust yourself off and move on this issue fast! no matter what they said do not buy into their crap. sorry you had to experience the worst. keep up the good fight and stay strong,
...yes....I saved all my evaluations. On my last eval I scored perfect scores on many many items......had no deficiencies and was in the high performer range.I probably scored in the top 3-5% of my work area. I have all my evaluations...from all the years I worked there.On all my evaluations I have always been an overacheiver/high performer there.So...my work ethic is well documented.My unit managers have always encouraged me to make copy of my evaluations...which I did.
I cant tell you what a sad learning expereience this has been for me. I am extremely....just sad. They waited months to even interview me re: what happened. If they had of investigated this immediately afterward....they would have found many many nurses who were outraged . Now...my former coworkers...have had months to see the cause and effect rule in reality.Speak out and you get fired. Now...many are scared they will get fired if they tell what was really happening .I cant blame them.I know first hand the emotional and finicial burdens it causes when you are terminated for speaking out about the events surrounding this. However,..there are still many there...that if asked ...will tell the truth.
Do I regret what I did? No...no I do not. I stand behind my decision. It is unethical to allow a nurse to gain competency thru trial and error.Will he/she eventually gain competency thru trial and error? Yes...probably so...but it isnt the "right" thing to do...to sit there and allow that to happen. These are patients lives here.Not peices of equipment. They have families.They are "someone"...to "somebody".If this were your husband/wife/child/mother...would you want to be the one she said "oops...gee I guess Id better make a mental note NOT to do that again...this one was an error".Its wrong...they can turn it...and twist it....but in the end ...it is wrong.I still am looking over all my options on how to proceed...bc...I have quite a few. It is just sad....when there are even cases out there like Barry adams...and alllllll the others. I feel so niave.I have been a nurse many a year...and never had really been aware that this is happening all across the country. I have heard so many stories from so many people...other nurses....other physicians...pharmaceutical reps...who have similar tales.This is wrong. These patients are people.
TsunamiKim...Thanks.I have concrete proof..so..if they want to wait....thats ok. My audiotapes can be dusted off anytime for a judge.As far as I am concerned....I can play them in court...in front of a judge or jury....and that HC Institution can stand in front of that judge or jury ...and say " well Judge...you see our stance is that this NM lied on her hand written termination letter to this nurse......or they can opt to say..."well Judge/Jury...our stance is that our NM lied when she said that this alledged event occured on this date".....bc....thats concrete.They coflict...one says the event happened like on a Monday...the other says it alledgedly happened on a Thursday. Numerous other items are in there that they will be left having to decide what lie they want to go with.That's concrete.time....TsunamiKim...wont change that.A liar is a liar.Whats that old phrase "oh what a tangled web we weave when we pratice to decieve.".I cant help but wonder.....what wouldve happened to me...if I had not been such a good record keeper..if I hadnt had that "feeling" that something was wrong bad enough to make me want to record that meeting...etc etc.
:crying2:
Take them to the cleaners for their unethical and dangerous practices. Later, after getting your fat settlement check, you can speak out all you want at any job because if they fire you...oh well.
gauge14iv, MSN, APRN, NP
1,622 Posts
There needs to be whistleblowers protections in areas OUTSIDE of federal agencies. You may actually have some recourse under a whistleblowers law somewhere...I'm not a lawyer so I don't know what that law would be, but a good labor law attorney would know. It's possible - since the hospital takes payments from the federal government (ie: medicare) that there may some govt. agency whistleblowers protection there.
I absolutely believe you should fight this in court. But don't stop there - keep telling your story, keep motivating others to get these sorts of laws passed and stay active in your local and national organizations.
http://www.whistleblowers.org/
As for being active in your orgs - they won't come looking for you - you have to go to them - thats why they call it active and not passive :)