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.
I am suppost to go in the next few weeks with my attorney for a mediation date with the hospital.The mediator will be a judge who has been asked to act as mediator by the hospital and my atty.So...we'll see if we can reach a mutually satisfactory agreement.
I am hopeful that we can...maybe that's me being niave again....I dunno.
I look at it like this....I am just going to once again tell my account of the events that happened and listen to my atty. I did my job...and did it well. I did as the nurse practice act mandated and for that.....for trying to protect the patients that we cared for......I was fired. I was fired for speaking up about an unsafe practitioners conduct/acts.
I spent years at that hospital with letters of praise....raise after raise....and never once a write up nor a verbal warning for anything at all.....bc....I did my job and did it well. My salary in 4+ years went from 18$ an hour to over 30$ an hour....so when I say I did my job well.....it showed on my evaluations and I received emails, etc etc etc for the good job I did there. I even got a promotion only weeks before I was fired at the request of the nurse manager ( and yep another raise to boot). Then I witnessed that nurse managers best friend commit an act that ...lets just say ahem....drastically negatively impacted a patient. The manager and her best friend didnt want to have to be "lowered/demeaned" by being forced to undergo "orientation"....even though she had not routinely cared for ICU patients for over 10 years. They felt that orientation was beneath her.So she was left to "pick things up" as she went along. Does that sound safe? No...? well...it wasnt.
Then when it known that I would be going over the managers head to risk management....I was fired within hours for a false trumped up charge. I was accused of documenting vital signs early. yep....thats right.
When I went to my exit interview the manager kept saying that it "alledgedly" occured on a Sunday...yet when I asked to see any documentation she had depicting my pre-documentation....I was shown papers from a Tuesday.(tripping over her lies).Then she said it occured on the 2nd day of "June"...but then she showed me papers from the 5th of June.
Strange...I know.
Then...after my atty got involved and I told him what they showed me at my exit interview didnt even resemble my own writing and that it was an obvious forgery that we needed to have a document examiner look at. Guess what happened?....he asked to see the document the hospital (aka lying manager and her friend) are alledging showed the predocumentation.....and their atty provided us with a letter saying they couldnt provide us with that document because it was "mysteriously missing". Hmm...it became mysteriously missing after we requested a copy for forensic document examination.
they also provided us with copies of other items.....an example is :a letter a witness signed for the incompetent practitioner saying he was called to the unit shortly after 3:30 pm or just prior to 4pm and shown a copy of a form that the incompetent practitioner allegedly claimed was my writing predocumenting vital signs early. He said he signed this (copy) of the document shortly after 3:30 pm or just before 4pm. He described in detail what he saw on this copy...saying that all the 50+ blocks were completly filled in and that the vital signs were filled in completly with no holes/gaps in charting.He also said ...strangely enough the incompetent practitioner refused to allow him to even see the original document ...only allowing him to see and sign a "copy" she provided. Here's the problem.....when my atty asked to see a copy of what the "witness" signed he was provided a copy of a document that was vastly different that what the witness descibed as having signed.It had tons of "holes/gaps"...even the darned temp wasnt recorded...the blood pressure wasnt recorded and it had a ahem......ahem....unique looking signature for the witness and it was signed with a time that it was alledgedly witnessed...and the time was "signed at 1pm".Hmm....signed at 1pm......a time 3 1/2 hours before the guy was even made aware she wanted him to "witness" that the incompetent pratcitioner had a "copy" (not an original) of something.Now what he says he was shown....in no way resembles what they do have.
so...how am I? I..am mad. I feel like this nurse and her manager friend...not only manipulated me.....but also this other "witness".I know for a fact that other documents that were signed by me on that day have been tampered with after I left and altered.Numbers were scribbled thru...trying to make them into other numbers and things like that.
I still....deep in my heart....know that a few bad apples doesnt mean the whole tree is bad.That hospital has some incredible nurses and physicians.....but when the hospital condones the behavoir of this nurse and the manager by letting my termination stand it say's "They are all for breaking the state and federal law"...it says that they place patient safety on the back burner.....and for that I am going to hold that hospital accountable. I tried to use their internal reporting system to help resolve this and no one listened. To me...it's like they are saying that patient's life was garbage.....that her life meant nothing....and that's wrong. If hospitals are allowed to silence nurses and other healthcare members when they act as a patient safety advocate then they are nullifying all the state and federal laws that protect us from retaliation.....and they dont have the legal right to do that. They are not the supreme court! Every day....every day....I think about that patient...she had a mother....she had young children.....so ....this "thing" is bigger than me just loosing my job bc I spoke up. So....as far as mediation....I hope that we can reach a mutually acceptable agreement...but I dont know what that would be.I do know this though....big hospitals can not deem themselves above the law. These characters involved have done so much lying...and manipulating....I still feel sorry for their attorneys.
I hope that someone can learn something from this post...I hope it helps some other nurse...bc I had no idea how often this was occuring until it happened to me. I did the smart thing...when I began to sense something was "up" I started tape recording everything. I carried a small tape recorder I had used for recording lectures in school with me to every meeting etc etc....and I recorded everything from my exit interview to....welll.....everything. Think about this......what position would I be in if I hadnt recorded everything? would my position be as strong as it is now? No....it wouldnt be. But I did record...now the Judges and court (if it comes to that) can hear the lies straight from the horses mouth. They can hear that nurse manager in my exit interview telling lie after lie....tripping over her lies. So....my advice...if you think somethings up.....record...make copies. I have several other major key things we are reserving in case we have to settle this in a court room that I am not legally obligated to release. So ...do like I have done ....record...document it all,,,,make copies...record some more ..and keep some key peices of evidence to yourself/your atty in case all out of court avenues of resolution fail.Get an atty involved early...bc we have to make hospitals realize they are not above the law....and they cant disregard the Nurse Practice act, state and federal anti-retaliation and patient safety laws.
Can we please kill this thread it has been well over a year and all I hear from TNNnurse is how you have all this evidence and tape recordings and someone has forged all these signatures and blah blah blah. If you had all of these things you would have had your job back the day after you visited your supposed attorney. Instead we get these delusional stories about how you were framed and you are gonna win this great lawsuit from your employer and they are all gonna pay, and I don't buy it for one minute. So please in the name of all that is holy kill it kill it kill it...
Can we please kill this thread it has been well over a year and all I hear from TNNnurse is how you have all this evidence and tape recordings and someone has forged all these signatures and blah blah blah. If you had all of these things you would have had your job back the day after you visited your supposed attorney. Instead we get these delusional stories about how you were framed and you are gonna win this great lawsuit from your employer and they are all gonna pay, and I don't buy it for one minute. So please in the name of all that is holy kill it kill it kill it...
How in Gods name do you know that what happened to this nurse is not true?! Until you walk in her shoes or the shoes of any other nurse who has been wrongly fired for doing the RIGHT thing,refrain from reading these posts, then when something bad happens to you, you will be asking yourself what just hit you. Dont create bad karma for yourself with your incredibly insensitive words. You must have a "great" bedside manner.
cozmo_blozmo , Ouch! That was kinda rude! Actually, I was so happy to hear about this site from a co-worker, when the retaliation against me began! I was even talking about this site today, with another girl who is going through some work "mumbo-jumbo"... I said, "In a sick sort of way, it's at least comforting to know I'm not the only one going through this. There are lots of people on the site who are going through the same thing. I swear, sometimes I wonder if HR is reading our posts, and getting ideas on how to torture the whistle-blowers".
SpaceNurse is just full of knowledge, I have gotten some of my best lines of defenses from researching his posts. And TNNurse's life sounds just a few months further in than mine... we both sound so alike, that the girl who actually referred me, thought I was her....
Cozmo, there's enough bah-hum-bugs all around us... some of us ARE here simply to tell a story, hoping to spread knowledge... or give words of encouragement, advice, or comfort. I'm sorry you are sick and tired of the "year old" version TNNURSE is sharing, but the system doesn't work like you watch on TV... but wouldn't it be nice if it did? Also, unfortunately, even if it IS a year old story to you... it's a day old story to someone else. Be appreciative that TNNURSE takes the time to tell it- Because of many of the posts on here, I lost that feeling of being "all alone".
I was feeling so discouraged when the retaliation started against me- I was literally SHOCKED, and could easily have walked away from this experience thinking that EVERYONE in medicine is evil.... but you know what... because of these posts, I know it's not "most" nurses are evil... it's just a few- and some of us happen to be fortunate enough to have worked with them... You are blessed not to have had that opportunity, and we all pray you never do, because it's life-altering in every way! Good Day.
can we please kill this thread it has been well over a year and all i hear from tnnnurse is how you have all this evidence and tape recordings and someone has forged all these signatures and blah blah blah. if you had all of these things you would have had your job back the day after you visited your supposed attorney. instead we get these delusional stories about how you were framed and you are gonna win this great lawsuit from your employer and they are all gonna pay, and i don't buy it for one minute. so please in the name of all that is holy kill it kill it kill it...
hm...cosmo.....get a grip. these things do happen and when they do happen....risk management just wants it to be "hushed up". as far as my case....i am updating to hopefully help someone else who is going thru the same thing. anyone who doesnt believe this is occurring is well...delusional. why in the heck do you think these states have antiretaliation laws coszmo? do you think the state and federal gvt just made these laws up fo "no real reason".....that these things dont occur? well...they do occur...thats why states like texas have the healthcare worker antiretaliation law. to prevent things like this from occurring. and ...to answer your question about "they would have just given me my job back when presented with the evidence"....uh....no....no they wouldnt. because when they did it would have exposed them to civil liability to the family even more...so they'd rather just hope that i would go away......and i am not.....going away.
if my case had no merit.....we wouldnt be at the settlement table....now would we? end of story. and i am glad that i did record and document and make copies....bc if i hadnt have done all that........it would have been dusted under the rug as a "disgruntled employee".but i did the smart thing....and now we are trying to reach an out of court settlement that i can be happy with and put this behind me. what i dont want.....is for this to keep happening to other nurses and them be unprepared ....to where their acct and voice is never heard. i hope this helps someone else. but....ya know.....the court systems put those laws on the books bc this happens way too frequently. it was such a problem that they enacted state antiretaliation laws....state healthcare worker antiretaliation laws.....whistleblower laws etc etc. so..it is such a problem that there are not just one law...but many laws.
and...as you can read....i was asked to continue to give updates...and if you dont want to read them....dont. these issues ( legal ) ...dont get resolved overnight...it takes time. it has taken over a year for me.....my atty has provided them some of our evidence ( not near all).....and we are at settlement talks with a mediator. i am lucky....if i hadnt gathered the evidence and recorded as i did my case would not be near closing. i think barry adam's case went on for almost 3 years. the nurse in kentucky ..it took 3-4 years. the nurse out in pa...it took 2 1/2 years. my case....has been going on for barely over a year...and i hope it helps someone to hear the progress and to hear how important it is to stand up and act as the nurse practice act mandates.that is my hope...that it helps someone else....bc coszmo....unfortunately these things happen. that is why all the antiretaliation laws came 2 be.i am sorry if you caught "heat" from the others here...bc thats not what i want either.it would be nice if healthcare were perfect....and no one made errors....and all the healthacre atty's and risk mgmt personell followed a code of ethics to the "t".....and everyone did the right thing.......but coszmo...life isnt always rosy....and sometimes healthcare politics just stinks.hence the antiretaliation and whistleblower laws. i wish you well coszmo......
On behalf of other nurses and the patients who we care for I, for one, thank you for your tenaciousness and tenacity to follow through with this since 2005. You are an inspiration to others, TNNURSE.
TNNurse, you know I am in your corner, keep up your strength and I pray you will prevail in the mediation talks.I cannot fathom that some nurses just have no idea how quickly and unexpectedly they can find themselves wrongly accused or retaliated against, the "corporation " is NOT your buddy.Plus there are people out there in every walk of life that have absolutely NO scruples and if you think you can insulate yourself from these types of folks, think again.
gauge14iv, MSN, APRN, NP
1,622 Posts
I was JOKING - as I quite clearly said!