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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums10 California nurses suspended after refusing to treat COVID-19 patients without N95 masks
Ten nurses have been suspended from their jobs at a Santa Monica, California, hospital after refusing to care for COVID-19 patients without being provided protective N95 face masks.
One of those nurses, Mike Gulick, says the decision was heart-wrenching but after a colleague tested positive for the infection he felt he had to take a stand. According to Gulick, Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica claimed that the masks weren't necessary and didn't provide them to nurses. Last week, a nurse in Gulick's ward tested positive for COVID-19. The next day, doctors doing rounds told the nurses they needed better protective equipment. That was the last straw for Gulick, who told the hospital that he and nine other nurses would not treat COVID-19 patients without an N95 maks. According to the nurses' union, all 10 nurses have been suspended with pay.
The hospital did not comment on the suspended nurses, but said in a statement Tuesday that it was providing N95 masks to all nurses caring for COVID-19 patients. Its no secret there is a national shortage, the hospital said in a statement.
The CDC does not require healthcare workers to wear N95 masks while treating patients, but many hospitals have been providing them despite a national shortage because the masks block 95% of airborne particles.
https://www.10news.com/news/national/coronavirus/10-california-nurses-suspended-after-refusing-to-treat-covid-19-patients-without-n95-masks
Frustratedlady
(16,254 posts)I sure wouldn't want to be a patient in that hospital, let alone an employee.
harumph
(1,914 posts)Hold the hospital administrators responsible. I do not fucking believe for one
minute that if the hospital mucky-mucks really wanted to "find" some additional N95 masks
that they couldn't make it happen. They're making staff reuse masks - which obviously
poses risks.
Dem2
(8,168 posts)What the fuck is wrong with a hospital asking people to endanger their lives needlessly?
RockCreek
(739 posts)Infected nurses lead to infected patients.
Any non-COVID+ patient at that hospital who gets it should look into a lawsuit too.
This is the country of enforcement of common sense and decency by lawsuit....
lettucebe
(2,336 posts)It is criminal that nurses/doctors/first responders/grocery workers etc etc are being FORCED to work without proper protection.
bluestarone
(17,030 posts)Hav
(5,969 posts)Not only do people want to feel as safe as possible given the circumstances, we also need as many in the health sector to remain healthy as possible. The point behind flattening the curve was to not overburden the system. Protective measures for nurses and doctors should be the most basic step for that. More security for them and less risk of those spreading the disease who are in contact with many other people.
tavernier
(12,401 posts)Most states are offering PRN nurses big bucks and travel to come in and work, any hours they want... even retired nurses. I happen to know this first person because my daughter is a nurse in Indiana and I am a retired nurse in Florida and we have both had these offers.
This reminds me of that old bachelor joke about casually tossing girls away. Someday they might be scarce.
uponit7771
(90,364 posts)ProfessorGAC
(65,168 posts)They're suspended WITH PAY! So, they're paying them to do nothing and just stay home in the middle of a pandemic.
If they just provided the masks, the cost would be minimal.
Now, they're paying labor costs, getting nothing in return, and are likely backfilling hours with overtime.
The people who run that joint are clearly really bad at the whole business thing.
KWR65
(1,098 posts)and any other crime the criminal gang is committing.
roamer65
(36,747 posts)malaise
(269,157 posts)Bravo nurses - life is the first thing guaranteed. No one has the right to put your lives in danger.
Horse with no Name
(33,956 posts)Than the nurses in California.
They have a union that protects them so that they can take stances that protect the nurses across this nation.