Put off work because of Defamation? help!

[nwff]

Indiana

I work for a max. Security mental hospital. That houses all males with pending charges and also males with severe behavior problems. The problems I had was at a local hospital when I had to escort a patient to the hospital for a physical therapy appt. While at the hospital the patient was removed from hard restraints (ie. handcuffs and shackles) . During the appt. and then returned to them before we leave. The staff at the hospital. Became very rude about him having to be in them. And I explained to them its policy mandated by the state. And into the appt. the staff were whispering to each other.. and my partner at the time. was discussing something was wrong.. because they became very rude when a question was asked and they also wanted us to leave them alone with the patient. which again. is against our policy. After the appt. we put the patient back into restraints and removed him to the lobby where we had to wait for our driver to pick us up and return us to our facility. Instead of being picked up by a driver and instead we were picked up by a supervisor and charge nurse was and at that time we were told by them we were being investigated for abuse. Because the staff at the hospital said we were mean to the patient and that we had hit him. None of this happen and it was being investigated and no wrong doing was found. The problem I have. is while sitting in the lobby of the hospital we were approached by a member of the hospital asking us if we were the ones with the patient for Physical therapy.? And we said yes and why? and she said it wasnt nice what we did and walked away.. That was the first time I had seen the lady. and I don’t think she was even in the office were we were located.. I was taken off my job and my reputation was damage because of this.. I am a vol. firefighter that deals with this hospital while on medical calls. I feel that people are looking at me differently and want something done about it.. What can I do?

 

[Zigner]

What are your monetary damages?

 

[quincy]

With defamation, there does not necessarily have to be a monetary loss demonstrated. What must be shown is reputational injury - with the more definable monetary loss (from a loss of income from a job, for instance) being only one way to compensate a defamed person. Reputational damages can be awarded based on the less measurable impairment of a person's standing in the community, or even personal humiliation, mental anguish and mental suffering. These do not come with a "fixed" value but are determined by the court.

Being falsely accused of any crime is considered defamatory, and assumes some reputational injury - although being investigated on suspicion of abuse would not necessarily be considered defamation. If you had already been investigated on the abuse claims made, however, and cleared of any abuse against the male patient/prisoner when the comment was made about you by the hospital staff member, you potentially have some recourse.

If you feel that the comments made have affected your work as a volunteer firefighter, and as a member of the community in general, I would consult with an Indiana attorney to see if an action against those saying you are an abuser is worth pursuing in court. Defamation actions are expensive - and slander suits are especially hard to prove. There is never a guarantee you can win such a suit. You will need reliable witnesses to testify that you have been slandered.

Good luck.

 

[Zigner]

Quincy - you're off base on this one. Granted, libel/slander per se don't require monetary damages, I'm not convinced that this is the case here. As such, our OP would have to prove monetary damages. Our OP is a VOLUNTEER..thus, there are no damages. Getting "looked at" funny doesn't equate to damages. Also, our OP has not claimed that he has lost any employment due to these alleged statements.

EDIT: I apologize for the bolded/underlined part. A better choice of words on my part would be "I disagree with you".

 

[quincy]

Well, I guess you told me, Zigner. I can certainly see that you disagree!

But I must, in turn, disagree with you (not in bold print, just a little).

Reputational injury IS damage - whether a job was lost or not. Being accused of being an abuser can affect future employment, and has already affected his position with the maximum security hospital. Being "looked at funny" shows the effect the slanderous statement about him has made on others, even those not connected with the incident in the first place. This is an indication of injury.

One reason for damages being awarded for reputational injury alone is because there are often no clear and spelled out effects, such as would be the case if he lost a job or income. Sometimes defamation can injure a reputation so that promotions are not given, certain assignments are withdrawn, employment opportunities are reduced. Especially when the defamatory statement is one imputing a crime. These may be harder to measure, but are no less real.