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quit or fired ?

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J

jaculligan

Guest
Upstate New York
I recently worked at a small community Hospital as a unit clerk in the emergency room. It was a very, very busy Friday night and we had a possible trauma coming to us. Part of my responsibility is to call in the surgical team when needed, because of this poss. trauma the surgical Doctor was called in by the Physician's Assistant and I was told to call in the rest of the surgical team. By the time the surgeon arrived the poss. trauma had not yet arrived to our facility and a helicopter crew was also standing by to transfer this patient to trauma center. When the surgeon arrived he started verbally abusing me in front of other staff members, members of the local ambulance crew and the helicopter crew. He told me that no one was to call in the surgical team without his approval. This is not the way we have called in the surgical team in the past and everyone wanted to be prepared for the worst. When the poss. trauma finally did arrive the surgeon became more abusive towards me, because the patient's condition was not that serious and that the surgical team was already there. It being a very stressful situation to begin with and the surgeon yelling at me, I walked out. Just minutes prior to this second incident I told my supervisor that I wanted the surgeon wriiten up for his unprofessional attitude towards me and I inquired about how to do this. The following morning I called the supervisor to see if I was still scheduled to work that night and was told that I was "done".
My first question is this, Can I hold the sugeon responsible for putting undue stress upon me, causing me to leave the situation and loose my position and can I hold the Hospital responsible for continuing to allow this surgeon to verbally abuse me.
My other question is this, would my actions be considered as quiting or did my actions result in me getting fired? The hospital will not give me a straight answer.
jaculligan
 


L

loku

Guest
Can I hold the surgeon responsible for putting undue stress upon me, causing me to leave the situation and loose my position
It is possible that the surgeon is guilty of intentional infliction of emotional distress and if so, you could sue him for that. You would have to discuss this with a personal injury attorney in New York to know if you had a case. Possibly an employment law lawyer would have experience with this also.

Can I hold the Hospital responsible for continuing to allow this surgeon to verbally abuse me.
Your employer is required to provide you a decent work situation. They may have breached that duty here and you may have a case for that.

My other question is this, would my actions be considered as quitting or did my actions result in me getting fired? The hospital will not give me a straight answer.
This sounds like constructive termination, which is when an employer creates or does not prevent a condition that is so intolerable that it amounts to a firing when the employee quits. So this would most likely be considered a firing, but not for cause. If you can prove what happened, you should qualify for unemployment compensation benefits.
 

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