Sexual Harassment in Healthcare: Virginia Doctor Inappropriately Touches Nurse

For one Virginia nurse, she knows exactly how she would react because it happened to her. Discover sexual assault statistics and the details of this case. Nurses Headlines News

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Ruby Vee, BSN

17 Articles; 14,030 Posts

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

Decades ago, when we first got computers on the nursing unit, one of the (male) nurses learned to download Mediaography to the computers at the nurse’s station. It was uncomfortable, to say the least, to sit in the station and try to watch monitors or do charting while Mike was sitting there, watching Mediaography, so most of us learned to push the patient’s bedside table out into the hallway and sit there to do our paper charting. (The computer’s were for recording how many times we had answered a call light, fluffed pillows, assisted someone to the bathroom, etc. per shift. A new staffing tool.) Mike probably could have flown under the radar forever, but he downloaded a bunch of Media, pasted our medical director’s head on the mens’ bodies and left that up as a screensaver. Our manager responded by putting him on probation for six months — and promoting him to assistant manager.

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herring_RN, ASN, BSN

3,651 Posts

Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

The Anita Hill testimony taught me to speak up. Soon after I was orienting a new young attractive nurse to night shift. A physician teasingly laughed as he snapped her bra strap. She giggled as she turned away from him. I said, "That was inappropriate. He looked at me with surprise and said, "I was only teasing. I said, "As professional adults we know not to tease like that."

Several nights later I saw him bending over the young attractive unit secretary reading aloud with his finger under the orders he'd just written. Then his hand squeezed her breast. I again said to him, "That was inappropriate." He responded, "W just wanted her to know what I wrote in case she can't read my handwriting". I said, "We all know better. I am filling out an incident report and hope you don't tough anyone like that again." Two weeks later he apologized and thanked my for only reporting one incident.

Since then other similar actions happened where I saw it and I told them it was inappropriate. We discussed it at PPC and soon most of us began telling offenders not to do it again.

Nunya, BSN

771 Posts

Specializes in NICU/Mother-Baby/Peds/Mgmt.

If he's doing this to nurses I can only imagine what he's doing to patients...