Terminated. Pursue a Lawsuit?

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So I work in an ER. I am pretty new to nursing. I was called in to HR to explain why I had overridden Benadryl multiple times and not given it. Also a handful of times I did not waste excess narcotics appropriately. I explained my thought process on having the Benadryl in case I needed it and that the issues with waste were due to no one being around to waste with. I acknowledged I was wrong and was willing to do any education/disciplinary things they wanted. This was agreed upon at the time. After having meetings canceled and no phone calls for weeks they finally called me back in. They put me on unpaid leave. Essentially said I was lying. No drug testing or talking to my direct supervisor. I have another better job so I resigned that day. 4 days later they terminated me for performance issues.

So my question is that many friends have recommended I talk to a lawyer. Should I? Or should I just let it go and move on? Please help!

Specializes in Educator.

Depending on where you live/practice your former may be required to report your termination to the BON. It won't matter that you resigned - termination is what is in your personnel file. You will be hard to pressed your rationale behind improper wastage of narcotics. EVERY nurse knows how important it is to follow the procedure to the letter.

I suspect this is why your peers are urging you to get a lawyer. As other posters have said, the BON may be excruciatingly slow to get around to you but when and if they do you need to be prepared. I hope you have learned a valuable lessen and are working well within the scope of your practice at your new job.

I wish you the best of luck!

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Specializes in ER.
I think its time you move on to a new career path. It is actually horrifying to think that you are actually a working as a nurse.

Horrifying?

Being beheaded by ISIS is horrifying. So is being pursued by zombies. :blackalien:

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It saddens me that a brand new nurse would have such disregard for proper protocol. If she stole the benadryl she probably stole the narcotics too, but yea its no big deal. Maybe you should hire her to take care of your loved ones

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Specializes in ICU.

Can I just say, I really wish people would stop doing crazy stuff with drugs, especially OTC meds. It's bad enough I have to sign out cold medicine at the pharmacy to stop runny nose or deal with my congestion, now people are doing crap with Benadryl?? Pretty soon that won't be OTC and it's a huge help with my allergies in the spring and is awesome when I'm nauseous. I love the outdoors in the summer but unfortunately I'm allergic to pretty much everything. Cut grass, trees, pollen.... Benadryl is my go to. And it doesn't make me sleepy like most people.

It's truly madness. People will find absolutely anything to abuse. Anything. Plus it's cheap!! Lol. Claritin and Zyrtec are so dang expensive.

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Specializes in Psychiatric nursing; Medical-Surgrical.

Take this as a learning experience. Your inexperienced friends should be able to know what they are talking about before telling you to sue. The fact is you have no case! You were lucky to get off easy! Your nursing licence is no joke so next time be do things proper.

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Specializes in ED, Cardiac-step down, tele, med surg.

I don't see any reason to not get someone to waste a narc. That is one of my top priorities. It really doesn't take that long to do it to have someone see you do it. On top of that multiple times does seem kinda thoughtless or could be a sign of diversion which is very serious. Also, most employers are "at will" unless you are are working under a union contract.

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Specializes in Hospice.
Can I just say, I really wish people would stop doing crazy stuff with drugs, especially OTC meds. It's bad enough I have to sign out cold medicine at the pharmacy to stop runny nose or deal with my congestion, now people are doing crap with Benadryl?? Pretty soon that won't be OTC and it's a huge help with my allergies in the spring and is awesome when I'm nauseous. I love the outdoors in the summer but unfortunately I'm allergic to pretty much everything. Cut grass, trees, pollen.... Benadryl is my go to. And it doesn't make me sleepy like most people.

It's truly madness. People will find absolutely anything to abuse. Anything. Plus it's cheap!! Lol. Claritin and Zyrtec are so dang expensive.

Benadryl has been an issue for over 20 years.

In a hospital setting its generally IV Benadryl and the "I'm allergic to everything but IV Dilaudid given every two hours on the dot, and oh yeah, it makes me itch so can you push that Benadryl REALLY fast?" crowd.

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Specializes in Psychiatric nursing; Medical-Surgrical.

Unless you need a lawyer to protect yourself if BON comes knocking***

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Specializes in GENERAL.

May I say that many of the posters heretofore have not missed the opportunity to offer words of derision but little advice to this nurse. Thirty years and not much changes.

This is precisely why the expression "nurses eat their young" was coined so long ago. In the course of a nursing career there will not be one of you who will escape being accused of malfeasance whether real or imagined;whether from a disoriented patient or a disgruntled family member or, even, worse yet, a desperate substance addicted colleague. In this business no one is immune. Without knowing all the facts, I would advise this nurse to forego a lawsuit, it's futile, and move on. Anyway, you have probably signed an arbitration agreement with your employer and even if you are dead to rights as they say, very few employees short of Jesus Christ ever prevail. Just understand that in a situation like this many are quick to condemn but most disappear when you need a friend. Angels of mercy are few and far between these days,unfortunately.

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Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.
Even if this wasn't a diversion case the fact is that you showed a severe lack of judgment - which on it's own would be grounds for termination. Not having someone to waste with isn't unique situation. I've been that new grad. I know it sucks to try and find someone to waste with. So what's a nurse to do? Start calling. I've had the house supervisor come down to waste with me because there was no one else available. What do we not do? Waste on our own. It's on of those things where if it wasn't witnessed - it didn't happen. No one knows if that med went into the waste bin or if it got wasted in your veins. Don't put yourself in that situation.

As for the Benedryl: Do not pull medications from the Omnicell/Pyxis or Ye Olde' Med Cart until you are ready to administer them. It's just good practice. At the very least you will save yourself from having to answer to these types of questions again and at the most you could save yourself from a serious med-error.

In the future I would suggest thinking "Would a reasonably prudent nurse with my same experience and education make this decision" because the fact is that in all of the above you failed that test. If you are not diverting then I would suggest seriously figuring out why you made those series of decisions - were you just never taught not to do that? Or did you just not care?

"Ye Olde Med Cart" :laugh:

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Where I work the Pyxis always pops up with the prompt asking if I'm administering the full amount for any controlled substance and you hit the "yes" or "no" button. If no is selected then before we can pull the med we have to have another nurse co-sign in the Pyxis as witness. Is this unique to my facility or something most facilities have implemented? If it's an IV med I will pull it up and waste it right then and there. If it's a pill then I administer it right away and then immediately find the nurse who witnessed in the Pyxis and waste it in the sharps with her watching. If for some strange reason I cannot find the same nurse I will find another witness and we will both let the original witness know. Unfortunately I can't open pills until they've been scanned since opening them makes the barcode unreadable.

This is exactly how it is at my current and past hospital.

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Specializes in Critical care.
Can I just say, I really wish people would stop doing crazy stuff with drugs, especially OTC meds. It's bad enough I have to sign out cold medicine at the pharmacy to stop runny nose or deal with my congestion, now people are doing crap with Benadryl?? Pretty soon that won't be OTC and it's a huge help with my allergies in the spring and is awesome when I'm nauseous. I love the outdoors in the summer but unfortunately I'm allergic to pretty much everything. Cut grass, trees, pollen.... Benadryl is my go to. And it doesn't make me sleepy like most people.

It's truly madness. People will find absolutely anything to abuse. Anything. Plus it's cheap!! Lol. Claritin and Zyrtec are so dang expensive.

Apparently taking large quantiles of Imdoium AD is now the new or newer way to get high. I just can't keep up with all this crap. SMH :no:

Addicts turning to anti-diarrhea medication Imodium A-D to get high - CBS News

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