Hello ladies and gents:
Below is a recent articles about some nursing who walked off their jobs. I was curious to hear from nurses about what your feelings are. Did they neglect their patients or did they do the right thing by leaving due to poor working conditions? Please note that the same day these nurses quit, nurses in other facilities quit, but were not charged
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Ten nurses who abruptly resigned from their jobs last year at a Smithtown nursing center were charged yesterday - along with an attorney who advised them - with endangering children.
The nurses who work for Avalon Gardens Rehabilitation and Health Center were accused of endangering six children ranging in age from 2 to 7 - four were on ventilators, one was on oxygen support and another was terminally ill - when they abandoned their posts April 7 at the end of their shifts, said Suffolk County assistant district attorney Leonard Lato.
"You cannot walk out on disabled children who have nobody to call," Lato said. "Whatever their dispute, they could have said they intended to walk out in 24 hours. "
The nurses' sudden departure, he said, left the center scrambling for replacements on a Friday evening. The action was spurred, their current attorney said, by complaints about pay and hours.
The nurses were Philippine citizens who worked for Sentosa Care, a group of nursing facilities located throughout New York. The affiliated Sentosa Recruitment Agency recruits nurses from the Philippines for permanent employment in the U.S.
Felix Vinluan, 42, of Westbury, is the attorney accused of advising the nurses to resign.
All 11 were charged with sixth-degree conspiracy, five counts of endangering the welfare of a child and six counts of endangering the welfare of a physically disabled person - all misdemeanors. Vinluan also was charged with fifth-degree criminal solicitation, a misdemeanor.
All pleaded not guilty in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead and were released. If convicted, they could face up to six years in prison and deportation.
"There is no crime," said the nurses' attorney, James Druker, of Garden City. "Nobody was endangered. "
The nurses, who had been on the job a few months to two years, were recruited from the Philippines. They had a three-year commitment to Sentosa Care, and because they broke their contracts when they left, the nurses were liable for $25,000, the indictment said.
"They just wanted out," Druker said. "They didn't leave for better jobs; they were just tired of broken promises. "
The nurses, he said, were not allowed to work the shifts they were promised, were not given a night differential and were not being paid for overtime.
Vinluan, the attorney who advised the nurses, was just doing his job, said his attorney, Oscar Michelen, of Mineola. "[Vinluan] only advised them of what their legal rights were under the law," Michelen said. "The contract allowed them to leave. "
The indictment says the same day the 10 nurses resigned, two nurses from Split Rock Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in the Bronx and two nurses from Bayview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Island Park had also resigned; the day before, 10 nurses from Brookhaven Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in Far Rockaway had resigned. All are owned by Sentosa Care. Those nurses were not charged.
Staff writer Eden Laiken contributed to this story.
Accused of abandoning patients
All 11 were charged with:
1 count of sixth-degree conspiracy;
5 counts of endangering the welfare of a child;
6 counts of endangering the welfare of a disabled person
