Sabotaged at work

[soon2begrad2010]

I am a new graduate nurse who graduated in august for a year and a few months I have been working for a staffing agency where I am a sitter, since I have been working there I never ,ever got into any trouble nor did any nurses have any problems with me. But the last time I worked I had a patient who got sun-downers and wanted to leave out the rooom,so to make a long story short. The nurse decided to call security and put the patient back to bed with restraints. Next thing I know 15 minutes to the end of shift the patient's family member walks in and is LIVID that their loved one is in restraints. Fast-forward a few days later I get a call from my boss that the patient wrote a letter that she wasn't personally mad at the hospital but that I should not be able to work for them anymore and I had to write a letter and waiting for a response to see if I will be able to work there any longer, I do want to mention the patient did get a restraint loose and I had gotten up to get help and thats when the family member walked in. I am distrought, I was planning to try and apply with this hospital when I got my licensce and now I'm screwed,the patient also made some other allegations that I swear I never did nor said,the last thing I ever do is disrespect any patient,staff or family members,just venting

[PAROPPY, BSN, RN]

I don't understand why you would have to write a letter at all. You aren't the nurse or the MD and didn't have anything to do with the decision making process for that patient. The hospital and your agency should know that. As for the family being mad at you, its a case of misplaced anger, they probably would have been mad at the food service worker if she had been the first person the family memeber saw. Who told you to write the letter?

[nursel56]

Whatever the cost of legal advice, is money well spent and may save you a world of hurt at some point in the future. Much as we may hope that there are no people in the world who would harm an innocent party to save their own backside or deal with their unresolved issues at our expense-- it doesn't work that way. You need to be proactive right away.

[TDCHIM]

Whatever the cost of legal advice, is money well spent and may save you a world of hurt at some point in the future. Much as we may hope that there are no people in the world who would harm an innocent party to save their own backside or deal with their unresolved issues at our expense-- it doesn't work that way. You need to be proactive right away.

I firmly agree. You are just starting your career and you don't need any sort of unresolved black mark trailing you around as you try to find jobs both now and in the future. Believe me, I understand how hard it can be to pay an attorney when you're broke, but sometimes you just have to find the cash.