Health care industry monkey f**kers!

The BBQ Pit
1

As I have posted before, I have spent the last week tending my mother, who broke her leg, but at home, not at work. My mother is an RN who had been working at a small hospital in rural Louisiana for nine years before it was bought eight months ago by a for-profit health care group called Synergy. My mother was told that because, technically, she had been working for Synergy, the new bosses, for only eight months, the Family Leave Bill didn’t apply to her, and her job would not be held for her. They also took back the matching funds she had accrued over the past decade, and, of course, she has now lost her health insurance. In addition, she was notified that her short-term and long-term disability will be discontinued once she is pronounced fit to work, that she is a 58-year-old-woman with a hip implant and and motor impairment notwithstanding.

How can this be legal or ethical? How can a company say, “We bought your hospital so your nine years’ seniority are wiped out, you’re a new employee, and oops, you got hurt on your own time, so see ya!” How can these things-that-walk-like-men sleep at night? And most important, can my mom sue them back into the Stone Age? My cousin, the Army lawyer, says she doesn’t have labor law expertise to give competent advice. My mom is going to consult a lawyer who specializes in unemployment claims, but c’mon, this is good vs. evil!

I am still recovering from being laid off and am stretched to the bone financially, so I have no money to give. Two of my siblings are trailer park hillbillies with more good intentions than teeth, and my sister who is married to the systems engineer is a hateful bitch who would see her mother starve and not bat an eye.

I told my mom if worst comes to absolute worst, she could come live with my BF and me, but, boy, I hope it doesn’t come to that. With the impairment from her injury, mom can no longer hanfle the physical exertion of being a floor nurse, so I’ve urged her to look at nursing consulting jobs.

I wish I believed in Hell, so I could know those amoral moneygrubbers would suffer for their inhumanity and greed.

2

One word. Lawyer.

3

Well, I already said she is planning to consult a lawyer, but that doesn’t help right now. What’s especially maddening is that if this had happened just three months later, my mom would have been covered by the Family Leave Act, and the heartless bastards would have been forced to hold her job for her and to continue her insurance.

4

This is absolutely horrible. Sadly enough however, I’m not sure that the “law” is necessarily on your mother’s side.
Anecdotal example follows:
A personal friend worked in the accounting department of a local corporation for nearly 15, count 'em. 15 years. Did a great job, received glowing reviews and raises. Fast-forward to the buy out by a major national firm- now referred to as the Bottom-feeder-Heartless-Asshole-Company-from-Hades. Employees were assured that their current positions were "safe”. Yeah right. “Safe” if they were willing to take major pay cuts, loose all seniority and benefits, and change their job hours.
If I recall correctly, there was nothing she could do but refuse to work under the new conditions-which, of course, necessitated finding a new job and starting all over again.

That said- I sincerely hope that your mother does have case and she burns the bastards.

5

Not to detract from what is obviously a terrible and terribly unjust situation, but I’d like to point out that this is not a Health Care Industry issue, outside of the incidental fact that the employer in question is a hospital. It’s an Insurance Lawyer issue, and they’re the same in all industries. I work in a hospital clinic, and the doctors and nurses I work with would feel just as much outrage at your story as the rest of us. We are constantly faced with situations where the treatment our doctor feels is necessary for his or her patient is not approved by the insurance company. I realize this is not the same as the situation you describe, but I can assure you that Health Care professionals feel the same way you do about Insurance Lawyers; probably worse. They make our lives miserable every day; they make your lives miserable only when you or a loved one is sick.

6

And people wonder why I’m a socialist.

{{{Gobear and Gobear Mom}}}

7

Wow did your mom get screwed over! I don’t know the legalities of such a situation so good luck with your new lawyer. I will make a suggestion for you mom, though (if I may).
Perhaps she could move into nursing administration. My mom is a nurse that became a nurse manager for a home health agency. You can still use some of your nursing skills but you are a desk jockey most of the time so her hip shouldn’t be an issue. Or she could work as a coordinator for things like transplants (I don’t know how much running around that requires) or some other coordinator-type job. Her years as a nurse will qualify her for the job in lots of areas (my mom didn’t have a business degree of any kind) and would be a plus over other candidates - should she be so inclined.
Hope your mom is feeling better.

8

FYI, our Transplant Coordinator is required to be an ARNP, not just an RN; and she does quite a bit of running around.

9

These people are clearly not human. As such, beating them to death with a hardbound copy of Gray’s Anatomy couldn’t legally be considered murder, right?

10

I am an RN also. I started working at my current job last April. In July, while taking care of a lady with severe dementia, I sustained a hand wound when she dug her shit encrusted nails into my hand. My hand got a raging infection which set up in my sinuses and sent me into bronchospasms and asthma. I was off work for 2 months straight. all of August and September but didn’t receive any pay cause I hadn’t worked there long enough to accrue it.

Due to further complications of the same injury I missed a total of 12 weeks work last year–all unpaid. I have not been well since before the injury and have been to the doctor approximately every 2 or 3 weeks with a stay in the hospital at one point for high dose IV steroids. Still I am being given warnings about missing too much work without having the PTO hours to cover it.

The Health care industry does indeed suck.

11

Yesterday, Mom called her company’s headquarters to talk to the president, who was not in, so she told the prez’s personal assistant. The PA told the hospital administrator, who called and was hioghly unpleasant.

Today, after I posted the OP, the same hospital administrator called with a 18O degree turn in his attitude, promising light duties in one of their other units in Baton Rouge, treating her as if she were vested. It is Mom’s belief that the PA told the company president, who then ripped his nefarious underling a new one. I told Mom to look for a new job ASAP because this twat who canned her, then was forced to take her back, will doubtless look for the first chance to can her as revenge.

Right now, she will be in recovery fro the next three months, so work is a moot question, but at least her health insurance has been reinstated.

12

Nice to see that not every CEO is Ken Lay.

Still, play it safe. See a lawyer. Get it in writing.