Letters - Tuesday
Mistreatment of nurses common
I am not surprised at all to find out that a surgeon at Memorial Hospital has behaved in an abusive manner toward a nurse, but I'm pleasantly surprised and pleased to know that a nurse has finally chosen to make an issue of it ("Surgeon's actions lead nurse to sue," The Gazette, June 27). Even better, she's got the moxie to sue the hospital for not supporting her and, in effect, condoning the alleged inappropriate, abusive, and dangerous behavior of that surgeon.
I have been a registered nurse for more than 20 years, and this type of behavior is exactly why I resigned from my job at Memorial less than three years after moving here from the Denver area in 2005. I had given up my position at University of Colorado Hospital due to the long commute, and I soon regretted that decision when I realized the culture at Memorial was very different than the one I had become accustomed to at a progressive teaching hospital.
Verbal abuse of nurses and other staff by physicians was a daily occurrence at Memorial, and it was considered "normal" behavior. This behavior is considered unprofessional at University Hospital.
Deliberately hitting someone with any object contaminated with a patient's blood or body fluids, or deliberately handling such material in a way that someone is put at risk of having unprotected contact with such material is dangerous, and should be considered an assault and a crime. Sonja Morris was put at risk of contracting a blood-borne illness. Dr. Bryan Mahan, at the very least, should be named in a separate lawsuit. I would even venture to say that he should be charged with a crime.
What the Memorial physicians and Memorial Hospital itself may not realize is that nurses are health care consumers as well as providers. People ask us on a regular basis for recommendations on who they should use for their health care, and I have already decided I will not voluntarily use Memorial for mine.
Laura Evans, R.N., Colorado Springs
Abuse has no place in hospitals
I predict Memorial Hospital will settle this matter out of court in favor of Sonja Morris.
The scenario depicted reflects a similar story that inspired the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations to take action against this type of behavior.
Amazingly enough the incident that occurred was between a heart surgeon and a perfusionist that worked with him. The heart surgeon in this case was always yelling, swearing and making belittling comments, so much so that the perfusionist spoke to his supervisor about the his behavior. The perfusionist had to quit his job because the continued harassment was affecting his emotional state. Eventually he sued the physician and was awarded compensatory damages.
Because of this incident, JACHO issued a safety alert requiring hospitals to adopt a zero-tolerance toward workplace bullying by January 2009. It requires JACHO certified hospitals (which I am sure Memorial is) to comply with this disruptive behavior standard by training, posting a code of conduct and setting up a mechanism to report inappropriate behavior.
It appears Morris took several appropriate actions to help resolve the problem, starting by confronting Dr. Bryan Mahan and continuing up the chain of command.
Memorial has an obligation to stand by its employees and not let this type of harassment occur. In this case it has failed to do so.
Unfortunately, the underlying theme in all of this is money. We all know heart surgeries benefit the hospital coffers and, therefore, admonishing the surgeon would be counterproductive. Placing the nurse in another less lucrative position would be an easy fix.
As for the tissue throwing, what if the roles were reversed? What if the nurse threw bodily fluids or tissue at the surgeon's leg, then just acted like it was a joke? What do you think would have happened to her? I suspect she would be out of a job.
I am glad Morris stood up for herself. Many nurses do not and continue to be abused.
Mary E. Willock, R.N., Colorado Springs
Some officials lack vision
County commissioners narrowly approved a proposal for Global Near Space Services to conduct research on development of a tethered balloon system in eastern El Paso County which has military and civilian applications ("County vote gives flight to balloon project," The Gazette, June 26). The applications could be of great benefit to the region in the event of some natural disaster requiring high altitude observation to assist first responders, search and rescue.
This is an environmentally clean operation with the potential to hire up to 50 employees when testing is complete and production begins. This will draw additional scientist and research teams to the Pikes Peak region, where they will spend money for accommodations, food and rental cars, yet demand little in the way of public services.
The votes against approval of this project by Commissioners Jim Bensberg and Sallie Clark send a clear message from these two commissioners to new business that perhaps they really should consider Alburquerque or Austin, as this area lacks the vision to encourage new, responsible firms to our area. It also sends a clear message to voters in November.
Rick Wehner, Colorado Springs
