Loose lips sink ships
Even in a pandemic – we must always put the boss first and everyone else after. Hospitals are firing medical workers who talk about shortages.
Ming Lin, an emergency room physician in Washington state, said he was told Friday he was out of a job because he’d given an interview to a newspaper about a Facebook post detailing what he believed to be inadequate protective equipment and testing. In Chicago, a nurse was fired after emailing colleagues that she wanted to wear a more protective mask while on duty. In New York, the NYU Langone Health system has warned employees they could be terminated if they talk to the media without authorization.
This is America, where health care is a for-profit business, not a public service.
“Hospitals are muzzling nurses and other health-care workers in an attempt to preserve their image,” said Ruth Schubert, a spokeswoman for the Washington State Nurses Association. “It is outrageous.”
Hospitals have traditionally had strict media guidelines to protect patient privacy, urging staff to talk with journalists only through official public relations offices. But the pandemic has ushered in a new era, Schubert said.
Health-care workers “must have the ability to tell the public what is really going on inside the facilities where they are caring for Covid-19 patients,” she said.
…
“It is good and appropriate for health-care workers to be able to express their own fears and concerns, especially when expressing that might get them better protection,” said Glenn Cohen, faculty director of Harvard Law School’s bioethics center. It’s likely hospitals are trying to limit reputational damage because “when health-care workers say they are not being protected, the public gets very upset at the hospital system.”
We’re funny that way.
Maybe just paranoid theorizing here, but I wonder how many of these hospitals’ corporate owners and adminstrators are Republicans or Republican donors? They’re probably playing CYA (because there are few indications of managerial and administrative failure more damning than forseeable, preventible shortages that result in massive patient mortality), but at the same time, their failures at the local level are a reflection of failure at the federal level. They might be trying to save themselves (as after this is all over, I’m guessing any heads that did not respond appropriately, in a timely manner will, one hopes, roll), but by silencing critics, they are also helping Trump, at least in the short term.
not Bruce, it would appear they are also violating all codes of ethics that would require them to first do no harm. Laying off medical people in a crisis? Doing harm. Not keeping properly stocked? Doing harm. Ignoring the signs of a growing pandemic? Doing harm. I agree with you; I hope heads will roll. Though I wouldn’t want any literal executions; I want these people to live with the consequences of their decisions, and hopefully be unemployable anywhere else. Let them learn what it’s like for the rest of us.