Supervisors at Abington Memorial Hospital in Philadelphia have explained that they sought only to avoid a confrontation when they told African American employees to stay out of a patient's room after a man ordered that no blacks assist in the delivery of his child.
Philadelphia Inquirer, Oct. 3, 2003
NAACP wants hospital supervisors punished
Local leaders call for Abington hospital to discipline those who told minority staffers to stay out of a patient's room.
Local NAACP leaders yesterday called on Abington Memorial Hospital to discipline supervisors who told minority employees to stay out of a patient's room after a man demanded that only white staffers assist in the delivery of his baby.
( By Oliver Prichard, Inquirer Staff Writer, 10/04/2003 03:01 AM EDT)
I'm with grouchy's original plan to handle the situation.
I would tell the man that we cannot make assignments based on personal preferences- there are too many other factors for that to be safe, and besides his request goes against the facility's code of ethics. AMA form is here if you need it, buddy.
Then I would go out to the nursing staff and let them know his preferences, and ask if anyone wanted to not be assigned to him. They would be accomodated, but in an emergency everyone would be expected to help regardless of race.
Then I would make sure everyone involved, including the family knew how to contact me.
The only kink to this plan is if the nurse arrived in the room to treat the patient and mom refused to be touched by that particular nurse. It would be assault if she was touched anyway, but we can't really just not treat if she needs something.
Yes, she did marry him.... you are right. How much was said about how she felt about the situation?? Did she just go along with him and say nothing, did she echo his sentiments???
As I stated previously, I don't agree with him and his actions at all. But first and foremost, as we are taught, the client (patient) and their families' feelings have to be considered.
Did those people who the comments were directed at really want to go into the woman's room? I would find it hard to believe anyway, if they did, knowing how the husband felt.
Just a quick question though..... what would have happened if the situation was a bit different. What if the woman and her husband had been African American and didn't want any white person attending to them??? It's a possibility, you know.
I do believe that there is a good case of racism/prejudice on the husband's part.... but I do feel that at times that race "card" is played too much. Sorry, but that is how I feel. I, for one, would appreciate anyone if I was in labor.... be it a man or woman, black, white, green, yellow....etc.
i think a man saying he doesn't want any african american nurses touching his wife is clearly a racism issue. I am black and i am the first to agree that SOME people play the "race card" too much. In certain instances it is warranted though. stated before that i don't belive that this was a case of the hospital trying to discriminate but more a case of them not knowing how to handle the situation and trying to keep a potentially volatilel situation under control. Whatever, in my opinion and according to their own written policy, they made the wrong choice. Anyway i would feel exactly the same way if the situation was reversed and it was a black family that didn't want white nurses touching them. My point is that the hospital is not going to be able to accomodate everybodys preferences so don't get that ball rolling. When you go into a hospital you have a right to get qualified competent staff helping you, nothing more nothing less. This man absolutely has a right to his feelings and in his own home he can run it the wasy that he sees fit. The minute he steps outside that home and into the public though his rights are limited. He has a choice he can either get the care that he wasnts by providing it himself or he can abide by the policies and rules of the hospital which doesn't share his beliefs. the mother and baby have a right to be helped but only if they follow the same rules as everybody else. if they don't like it then they have the option of leaving.
Patients who have racial preferences for healthcare staff better stay out of California.. they'll have a very hard time finding a same-race staff.. We're so diverse out here and I'm glad I don't have to face those problems.. Its so stupid.
Well, I've been reading these posts with a great deal of interest. I'm a straight male, married with 3 kids, and have been a Nurse for 21 years. To this day I still have female patients who don't want a male Nurse working on them. These requests are always honored. Now I wonder if they should be honored. How is their situation one bit different from that idiot husband? Am I not being discrimated against because of my gender? That is sexism, pure and simple. Isn't it? If we follow the arguments presented by many here, the fact that these little old women (and a few young ones) are uncomfortable having me work on them should be irrelevant. I am a Nurse, they are a patient, I'm going to work on them end of discussion. Right? This has nothing to do with religeon, they are merely uncomfortable with a Male Nurse seeing them unclothed, even for something as simple as an EKG. Well, tough. This is the 21st century and their old timey, sexist attitudes are NOT going be tolerated! Right? Or is it? Let's see a show of hands here. How many of y'all agree with my assessment? Or is it somehow different in my case? If so, why? Things are never as clear cut as we like to think they are...
Well, I've been reading these posts with a great deal of interest. I'm a straight male, married with 3 kids, and have been a Nurse for 21 years. To this day I still have female patients who don't want a male Nurse working on them. These requests are always honored. Now I wonder if they should be honored. How is their situation one bit different from that idiot husband? Am I not being discrimated against because of my gender? That is sexism, pure and simple. Isn't it? If we follow the arguments presented by many here, the fact that these little old women (and a few young ones) are uncomfortable having me work on them should be irrelevant. I am a Nurse, they are a patient, I'm going to work on them end of discussion. Right? This has nothing to do with religeon, they are merely uncomfortable with a Male Nurse seeing them unclothed, even for something as simple as an EKG. Well, tough. This is the 21st century and their old timey, sexist attitudes are NOT going be tolerated! Right? Or is it? Let's see a show of hands here. How many of y'all agree with my assessment? Or is it somehow different in my case? If so, why? Things are never as clear cut as we like to think they are...
As a matter of fact, I do agree with your assessment. It's silly and it ticks me off when some people get so prudish about having a male nurse but they have no problem with having a male doctor.
As a matter of fact, I do agree with your assessment. It's silly and it ticks me off when some people get so prudish about having a male nurse but they have no problem with having a male doctor.
Why thank you Sharon. You wouldn't believe the number of people who think it the female/male is justifiable while thinking the black/white thing is wrong. In my book, they are both wrong. Discrimination based on sex, race, religeon, disability etc...is just plain wrong. You can't justify one without justifying all of them. We are all entitled to our prejudices, we just can't act on them.
Sekar, I agree with what you're saying! So many women make a fuss about a male nurse, but have no trouble with a male doctor, even a male gynecologist! We have one male nurse on our team, and he runs into this all the time. Mind you, when you're giving the care in the home environment, it's a lot more invasive of privacy to have a male nurse, who is a total stranger to you, right in your bedroom doing a dressing on your peri area, or inserting a catheter.
The one place I might be willing to bend on this would be for religious reasons. Though, even there, the more enlightened Muslims are willing to make concessions. I recently looked after a male Muslim, whose family had chosen to have him die at home, so he could have his head facing towards Mecca as he passed. I had to cath him. We asked all the females to leave the room, and his two sons helped me. His member was inverted (hidden right inside the scrotum) so I asked one of the sons to find it for me. I passed the catheter with no problems, then left the sons to do his peri care. I really liked the way they handled it. They made allowances for the fact, that as a Christian female, my religion did not prevent me from providing intimate care for a male. I respected THEIR religion by making sure there were no other females present, and by letting the sons be the ones to do the personal care as much as was possible.
It's a very tough call to make sometimes, between providing culturally sensitive care, and allowing racists and bigots to walk all over you. Suppose you have an elderly patient, who is confused, potentially violent, and has been bigoted all their life. They go right off the deep end every time a nurse or doctor of another race comes into their room. Would you want that nurse/doctor to risk their safety by looking after that patient?
I agree that in the case we're discussing here, the hospital SHOULD have stood their ground, but there are times when common sense has to prevail, such as the above case, where the nurses would be at risk of physical harm.
sekar i totally agree that you should be able to work with any patient. I am a female who in general prefers a female doctor (because of an incident when i was young with a male doctor.) However when i was in the hospital I did not expect to get my choice of nurse or doctor (other than my own on call) and I was completely fine with haveing whoever was on staff and 1 day that did include a male gynecologist and nurse. You are absolutely right that it is no different than the race issue.
I do actually think it's equivalent. I'm a woman in my 30's, and I wouldn't dream of making a fuss of this issue when I am the patient.
I think it may be a harder idea to sell to pts in their 70's and up. Even racist patients are aware of the 60's Civil rights struggles, and the idea that racial discrimination is now illegal and is considered unacceptable by the dominant culture. When women assert their right to do traditionally male jobs, they can point to media coverage supporting this decision, and legal precedents like Title 9. Men in nontraditional jobs are also burdened by the lack of public attention to this issue. I think we are starting to see some cultural change. For example, it's become more common and accepted for men to be more involved in hands-on parenting, and even to be stay-at-home Dads. Hopefully, as the Baby Boomers start replacing the WWII generation, we'll see more enlightened attitudes.
The other thing that always kills me when a pt pulls this is the idea that they really feel that the male nurse is going to freak out over their 90-year-old coochie. Puh-leeze, grandma! Give me a break!
And, then there are those times you wish you could say "Well, I'll be happy to give you a female nurse instead. I hope you don't mind that she's bisexual?" ;-)
I agree with Tom on this one. I think the administration did the only thing it could do in this situation, and I think that father is a despicable human being. But we nurses can't force ourselves on patients who don't want us to take care of them, no matter what the individual circumstances are---that's called assault, and last time I looked, it was a crime that can cost a nurse his or her license.
Let's face it, the world is full of uneducated, ignorant creeps like the man in question, and we can't give them ALL an attitude adjustment.
I have to agree..what if a female wasn't comfortable with a male taking care of her? Do we tell her "too bad!"
I don't think racism is right, but it does come down to the patients rights
The other thing that always kills me when a pt pulls this is the idea that they really feel that the male nurse is going to freak out over their 90-year-old coochie. Puh-leeze, grandma! Give me a break!
And, then there are those times you wish you could say "Well, I'll be happy to give you a female nurse instead. I hope you don't mind that she's bisexual?" ;-)
Oh the number of times I have wanted to say that to a difficult patient! If only I that proverial nickel! :roll
canoehead, BSN, RN
6,909 Posts
I'm with grouchy's original plan to handle the situation.
I would tell the man that we cannot make assignments based on personal preferences- there are too many other factors for that to be safe, and besides his request goes against the facility's code of ethics. AMA form is here if you need it, buddy.
Then I would go out to the nursing staff and let them know his preferences, and ask if anyone wanted to not be assigned to him. They would be accomodated, but in an emergency everyone would be expected to help regardless of race.
Then I would make sure everyone involved, including the family knew how to contact me.
The only kink to this plan is if the nurse arrived in the room to treat the patient and mom refused to be touched by that particular nurse. It would be assault if she was touched anyway, but we can't really just not treat if she needs something.