Lost Labor There were several charges of inequity and injustice that occupied an incident in the late winter of 2010 at Washington Hospital Center, located within the District of Columbia. Following a considerable snowstorm, which many dubbed a blizzard and which was reported to have deposited as much as 40 inches of snow on the ground between February 5 and February 11, 11 nurses and five additional staff members were terminated for failing to attend their work at the hospital due to the intemperate weather. Representatives from the area's local nurses union, Nurses United of the National Capital Region, stated that the number of nurses who were unable to attend their duty at the hospital due to the severe weather conditions was tabulated at approximately 250 nurses. The disparity between that figure and the number of nurses (and additional hospital employees) who were terminated poses two very interesting cases or points of view in regards to the firings one that such termination is just, the other that such termination is decidedly inequitable. A significant amount of evidence exists that indicates that the termination of these employees was highly subjective, and illustrative of inconsistent practices on the part of Washington Hospital Center. In addition to the number of nurses who missed scheduled work hours due to the weather conditions being substantially higher than the amount who were actually terminated, representatives from Nurses United of the National
After working under these horrendous conditions, including lack of sleep, lack of electricity to keep the newest technology machines working, shut-down elevators and air conditioning, and an unsanitary working environment, the remaining staff members at Memorial did what they could. The reason and quantity of the medications that were found in patients’ bodies were unquestionably incorrect with the justification by Dr. Pou that she was simply trying to reduce their physical suffering and relieve their anxiety. In this case, Dr. Pou’s situation was considered malpractice, because people argued that there were other ways to help these patients. Rodney Scott, one of the last patients to leave the hospital stated, “How can you say euthanasia is better than evacuation?..If they had vital signs, then get ‘em out. Let God make that decision,” (Fink, 28). It is anticipated that nurses will experience challenging working conditions, including an environment of fear, and too much responsibilities or things to focus on. To prevent faster burnout and secondary trauma, nurses will need sufficient rest periods, emotional support especially from the hospital facilities and
In her book, Labor and Legality: An Ethnography of a Mexican Immigrant Network, Ruth Gomberg-Muñoz describes the lives of ten busboys, she referrs to as the Lions, living and working in the Chicago area. Gomberg-Muñoz provides an insight into the lives of these undocumented Mexican workers. They share their stories of crossing the border, the affects of their absence on family back in Mexico, and the daily struggles of living in a country without the benefits of citizenship. The Lions, as well as other undocumented Mexicans, have to face Americans stereotypes every day. Probably the biggest stereotype the Lions contend with is the belief that all Mexicans are hard workers.
King Lovell was given due diligence in his corrective action towards his multiple issues and being fired from Patton-Fuller Community Hospital. The issues were explained to King, and he was required to complete additional training to strengthen his nursing skills. King did not demonstrate any compliance with trying to correct the documented issue in his employee evaluation and consequently was fired.
There may be other details in this case that are not mentioned in the article that would go into the decision-making of the hospital whether or not to fire Carla. As the reader, we do not know if there were other negative situations that Carla was put in before this incident. We do not know if Carla was a bad influence to the hospital or if she had been written up several times before this incident. If Carla had been a troublemaker to the hospital before, it could lead the hospital to fire her that much more. If Carla had good reviews, this
In 1888 on a Thursday afternoon 235 people were killed by a blizzard on their way home from school. Taking place in the Northwest Plains region of the United States the blizzard came without a warning temperature went down 100 degrees in a 24 hour. On a Thursday afternoon, a day before the storm it was unusually warm from Montana east to the Dakotas and south to Texas. Then suddenly within a couple hours the Arctic air that came from Canada went South. In North Dakota temperatures went forty degrees below zero. High winds and heavy snow came with the storm which caused terrible conditions. In rural areas adults working on farms and children coming home from school were the ones who were mostly affected by the blizzard. A schoolteacher in Pawnee
Charleston Community Memorial Hospital proved a corporate negligence doctrine in the case (Pozgar, 2013). The court found a jury could reasonably find negligence due to the fact that staff did not test for circulation as often as needed, it was concluded that skilled nurses would have been aware of circulation problems, informing attending staff promptly (Law School Case Briefs,2013). There was no argument that the defendant, the hospital in this case, failed to review physicians work, or require a consultation. A jury found that this failure was within reason to assume a negligent act was performed, or not performed in this case (Law School Case Briefs,2013). A person goes to a hospital and within reason expects the hospital to treat them (Pozgar, 2013). There is a legitimate basis in this case to hold the hospital vicariously responsible for torts of its employed staff (Law School Case Briefs,2013). In Darling v. Charleston Community Memorial Hospital, the jury found negligence by both the doctor and the nursing staff, this was supported with evidence during the trial (Law School Case
In Creela Belle Howard’s article “Legal settlements at Veterans Affairs more than tripled since 2011, many due to medical malpractice,” she argues that VA hospitals, known for having a history of scandals and malpractice, should start terminating staff members for malpractice. Howard presents credible evidence, as well as implementing emotion through heartbreaking examples of veterans who passed away at the hands of shiftless staff at VA hospitals throughout the country. The author also presents no bias by stating facts without opinions about her own personal views.
I could not agree with you more. I also believe that Mrs. Wallace is not receiving the care that is warranted. People trust health care personnel to do what is right, and to assist in the recovery process. In this day and time, more and more cuts are being made in the health care field. I actually wrote about this same subject in my journal this week. The employees are expected to do more with less, and the care is suffering. I don’t believe that administration wants the care to suffer, but their hands are tied as well. A facility cannot remain open if the bills are not being paid, but at the same time, the staff will not idly stand by and allow patients to suffer harm because of the staffing constraints. It is becoming a no-win situation for all of those involved. I am
Two experienced nurses had been working at the Winkler county hospital for more than 20 years. In 2009, Ann Mitchell and Vicki Galle became whistleblower in the small town of west Texas. The nurses field an anonymous report to Texas Medical Board regarding to retaliation in the hospital. In the letter, the nurse stated the unsafe practices of Dr. Rolando Arafiles. The nurses were concern about the improper treatment to patient provided by Dr. Arafiles. Since. Dr. Arafiles tried to misuse his connections in order to save himself. Upon receiving the notice from the Texas Medical Board, Dr. Arafiles contacted his good friend and patient-Winkler county sheriff. Dr. Arafiles filed a complaint of harassment by the nurses to the sheriff. The sheriff started investigating the complaint and obtained the copy of the TMB report that clearly identifies that Mitchell and Galle had filed a complaint. Then, the sheriff obtained a search of warrant and seized each nurse’s work computer and found the copy of TMB letter. The nurses were charged with the third degree felony for misuse of official information to cause damage to the physician. However, the TMB disputed with District and County Attorney over the charges asserting that there was no misuse of official information in the state-governing agency. The complaint process allows anyone to report a physician for any unsafe, improper or poor practice including nurses. Since TMB is a government agency there was no violation of Health
“The definition of a health professional is a person who works to protect and improve people’s health by the diagnosis and treatment of illness to bring about a complete recovery from mental, physical and social perspectives, either directly or indirectly (Kurban, 2010, pg. 760).” Nurses in the community today have acquired an increasing responsibility to intervene with medical decisions. In the past, there were clear differences between nurses and doctors. It was more common for a nurse to be supervised directly under the physician. They are not just performing Doctor’s orders anymore. The nurse role in patient care has been widely expanded. Allegations against someone can be one of the most stressful moments of their careers. Negligence
Instead of providing the care they thought they would be providing, they were reigning in members to a program with the promise of improved health while they felt their own health was being neglected or jeopardized due to added stress, no time for breaks or guaranteed family time. Corporate compliance was called anonymously with complaints of working conditions and a state wide meeting was held with the RN case managers to gather information. Staff was assured that their concerns were being heard and efforts would be made to improve the current state of affairs.
For the background of the Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918)–child labor Court case, we see that children are working long hours in factories, mills, and industrial places. And the public is concerned about toll this work is taking on the children bodies. But at the same time for some families they need the money their child made during the week, to get by. Some states passed laws forbidding child labor in the given state. Roland H. Dagenhart was the person that brought this case to the Supreme Court. He lives in North Carolina, and works at a mill with his two sons. He thought this child labor to be wrong an believed it to be unconstitutional and sued, taking the case to the Supreme Court. An with all this going on at the time congress had passed
Scenario: As the new clinical manager at St. Agastine Hospital, I have noticed that employees feel overworked and have low morality. After careful examinations, I noticed that there is low communication between staff, unsure if their workplace safety is taking seriously, high culturally diverse In the organization creating unintentional miscommunication, and employment grievance regarding their work schedule.
While absurdists, existentialists, and nihilists believe that there is no meaning in the workplace or that there is a meaning that is too complex for humans to understand, Adam Smith, the father of modern capitalism, would argue that there is meaning in the workplace. This meaning comes in the form of capitalism and the free market. According to philosopher Ayn Rand, capitalism is “a term used to denote the economic system that has been dominant in the western world since the breakup of feudalism. Fundamental to any system called
Apparent at first appraisal of Hospital Z is what appears to be the issue of organizational (in)justice, which, according to Coutier, Denis, and Bilodeau, “refers to the perception of being treated fairly in the workplace…It is critical to the employer-employee relationship, exerting a wide influence on employees’ attitudes and behavior in the workplace” (p. 398). These authors further contend that research categorizes “...four types of justice perceptions: procedural, distributive, relational (interpersonal) and informational justice” (p. 398). These perceptions exist at the workplace and contribute to the problems.