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Angry over a wrongful firing

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SharaLynn

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Missouri

My mother has just graduated from a two year nursing program this December with honors.
She signed on with a hospital that was glad to have her, and gave her a vacation which she was
planning on taking this summer to Cancun.
New hires are supposed to have a "preceptor" someone to answer questions and help them as they begin their
nursing career. Mom's preceptor was rude, and anytime she asked a question would say "Well, go look it up."
This problem ended up resulting in a "near miss" report. The preceptor had signed off on mom's paper without giving her any information, and caught her
with a syringe and assumed that she was going to give the whole injection at once. She wasn't, but the near miss report was filed anyways.
Well, about last week, Mom received an order by phone for a patient that needed plasma. She had the order signed off. About five minutes later,
another order was called in for plasma it was to go to the only other person in the hospital that was up for surgery. Another nurse had that prepared and signed off as well. When mom
heard about the other order for plasma, she thought it was a bit strange that two patients going for totally different surgerys both needed plasma, but it came from the doctors secretary,
so they followed through. Later on, when the surgeon came to collect his patients (Neither yet
had their plasma yet because the lab took a long time filling the orders),
He threw a fit saying that he had not called in the first order that Mom had took. He, of course blamed it on Mom, and he said he heard the secretary relay the CORRECT name.
Mom is fired because of this.
Mom says their is no way that she could have got the name wrong, allthough the docter claims to have heard his secretary say the correct name. See, the order
for plasma was called in twice. It is highly likely that the secretary realized that she had the name wrong the first time, and called back to make sure
that the correct person gets the plasma, resulting in two patients up for plasma. The secretary will not admit a mistake, or say why she called twice.
I believe it is because of fear of the Doctor, and losing her job. This doctor has gotten others fired in the past before for small mistakes. It is well
known that when he gets mad, heads roll.
The firing itself of course was devastating. Mom lost the vacation that she did not yet get the chance to take, and most of all, the incident was not her
fault. She relayed the order as it was given to her. To add insult upon injury, the day that she was fired, she was told that she was not allowed on the
premises of the hospital ever again, and escorted out by two security guards. I think that this is all wrong. Mom is crushed by this, and has been a wreck ever since.
I want compensation for her, and her good reputation as a nurse restored. She has had good reports from all of her patients, and their is no reason for
her to lose her job and suffer emotional trauma because a secretary relayed an order incorrectly and was too scared to renig on it. Are their any laws against
This kind of treatment? If I hired a lawyer, is it possible that anything could be done? Please help.
 


Beth3

Senior Member
Are their any laws against this kind of treatment? No, there aren't. If I hired a lawyer, is it possible that anything could be done? Since her employer hasn't done anything unlawful, I don't know what an attorney could do. This was not a wrongful (illegal) termination.

In general terms, the reality is that when it comes to a "he said - she said" situaiton between a doctor and a nurse, hospital administration is very likely to side with the doctor. Physicians are the ones who bring in revenues to the hospital by filling hospital beds with their patients, therefore hospitals prize and guard those relationships.

The situation your mom encountered was very unfair but being treated rudely by the preceptor she was assigned to and the hospital taking the doctor's word over hers was not illegal. I expect your mother's confidence has been badly shaken and she may not want to return to a hospital environment, at least not for a while. Perhaps she should consider nursing in a different environment, such as a clinic or in a doctor's private practice.
 

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