IU Health Investigating Nurse for Racist Tweets

[hoosierdoc]

I don't know why people always put altruistic motives on healthcsr. Of course it is a business. It is just the hardest business. Nothing even comes close to the amount of regulation and Liability risk that is associate with providing healthcare.

Miraculous saves if critically ill people are expected. Television has taught us that CPR actually works most of the time.

The dirty little secret is healthcare is just a business. It is full of people who are just humans. Sure there are some wonderful people who want to make a difference and will do anything for you and their patients. You can find the same type of people in the accountants office, the grocery store, and the police department.

The extreme regulatory burden that has been placed on healthcare has essentially destroyed the charitable nature of it. Add to that widespread burn out, patient dissatisfaction, patient rudeness, and malpractice fears, and you're left with an industry that is just a business.

I know it is fun to romantically fantasize about hospitals, doctors, and nurses as saints who only care about other people, but they are just normal people Who are paid to take care of you.

Every day I work I hear from families who are mad at a nursing home. They complain about the care that their loved one is receiving. Every. Single. Day. Especially the patients on Medicaid. I explain that you cannot expect to pay someone to take care of your family member as well as you would. If you're not able to care for them in your home, then you have to accept that fact. They usually calm down after that.

 

[Libertarian01]

...Every day I work I hear from families who are mad at a nursing home. They complain about the care that their loved one is receiving. Every. Single. Day. Especially the patients on Medicaid. I explain that you cannot expect to pay someone to take care of your family member as well as you would. If you're not able to care for them in your home, then you have to accept that fact. They usually calm down after that.

Through my work I have often interacted with home health aides/nurses. Many of these are very wonderful people who enjoy helping others, while some are just average and some just in it for a paycheck.

With the aides especially they are paid dirt and expected to walk through hell to get their money. They get shafted in so many different ways. A large part of the problem is the way national labor laws are written regarding home health staffing. The laws date back decades to when the only people that came into the home were butlers, nannies, and maids. As they were also reimbursed with room and board, the law was VERY lax regarding what protection it would give. Home health aides are one of the areas I think a union would be good for improving their position. I know a lot of folks on here don't like the union idea, but EVERY SINGLE home health aide I have spoken with has stories about being taken advantage of. The nurses not so much, as they have a protected license/skill that allows them to demand more for their time, but even then I believe they get paid less than nurses in other areas of medical practice, just not significantly less.

The aides are still required to to a LOT of care work and, as you said, it still isn't "their" family member.

As just one example of how an aide can get shafted, say their hours of work are from 7A - 4P. Some of them are required to accompany their patient to a doctors visit. So they go with a patient to a 2:30PM doctors visit. The visit should take an hour, then be done by 3:30PM, throw some food on for the patient and be out by 4:00PM. RIGHT... I pick the patient up at 1:45PM with the aide riding along, and I'm supposed to go back for them at 3:30PM to run them home. However, the doctors office doesn't even call them back until 4:15PM. As it's late in the day I'm told to just wait, so I do. But the aide is also stuck there and it doesn't matter that their family is waiting on them as well. So the patient finally gets out at 4:45PM and being in a wheelchair takes several minutes to load and later unload. Now we're all stuck in rush hour traffic and I get the patient home and through the door at 5:20PM. The aide STILL has to do dinner and final stuff for the client and winds up over two (2) hours late getting home. NOTE THAT THEY DO NOT GET OVERTIME FOR THIS!!! The olde law doesn't allow this for a domestic worker and the employer(S) sure as hell don't offer it out of the goodness of their hearts. At least I get the overtime if I go over 40 hours a week, but not home health aides. (I don't know about the nurses.)

And we still expect them to be bright, cheery, and walk on water for their patients...

Regards,

Doug

 

[Route 45]

https://www.wthr.com/article/employ...racist-tweets-no-longer-employed-by-iu-health

Lost her job. Doesn't say whether she was fired or encouraged to leave on her own.

 

[hoosierdoc]

They don't paid for their hours worked? That sucks.

 

[NyleRN]

The extreme regulatory burden that has been placed on healthcare has essentially destroyed the charitable nature of it. Add to that widespread burn out, patient dissatisfaction, patient rudeness, and malpractice fears, and you're left with an industry that is just a business.

I know it is fun to romantically fantasize about hospitals, doctors, and nurses as saints who only care about other people, but they are just normal people Who are paid to take care of you.

I couldn't agree more. And further add, if our government continues to add stricter regulations then companies will cease to operate cause it won't be worth the risk from a business standpoint when deficiencies are cited with huge fines. These folks that don't have family and/or friends to help take care of them won't have a place to go.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

Doug, that does suck.

I always hated it when my job went passed my "quitting time" and I didn't get to leave for home until an hour or so afterwards. Of course that was most everyday, not to mention the expectation that I be there an hour before my "shift" started, plus be on call during vacation times, weekends, holidays, etc. And no, I wasn't a doctor, fireman, etc. And it wasn't in the job description when I started. But it was a voluntary choice on my part to stay there.

I get that it's easy to feel like you're trapped and have no options but to take it. I had those days myself. I also had opportunities to move on to something else but when I weighed all of the factors involved in moving on, I made the choice to stay, every time.

I've also asked people that we're ranting how this place sucks, the management sucks, the work sucks, the equipment sucks, the working conditions suck, you name it, why, if they were so unhappy, why don't they quit and go get a job that didn't suck so badly...they looked at me like I was speaking Greek. The realization they were still here because they chose to be caused some serious cognitive dissonance.

[COLOR=#00000]
Through my work I have often interacted with home health aides/nurses. Many of these are very wonderful people who enjoy helping others, while some are just average and some just in it for a paycheck.

With the aides especially they are paid dirt and expected to walk through hell to get their money. They get shafted in so many different ways. A large part of the problem is the way national labor laws are written regarding home health staffing. The laws date back decades to when the only people that came into the home were butlers, nannies, and maids. As they were also reimbursed with room and board, the law was VERY lax regarding what protection it would give. Home health aides are one of the areas I think a union would be good for improving their position. I know a lot of folks on here don't like the union idea, but EVERY SINGLE home health aide I have spoken with has stories about being taken advantage of. The nurses not so much, as they have a protected license/skill that allows them to demand more for their time, but even then I believe they get paid less than nurses in other areas of medical practice, just not significantly less.

The aides are still required to to a LOT of care work and, as you said, it still isn't "their" family member.

As just one example of how an aide can get shafted, say their hours of work are from 7A - 4P. Some of them are required to accompany their patient to a doctors visit. So they go with a patient to a 2:30PM doctors visit. The visit should take an hour, then be done by 3:30PM, throw some food on for the patient and be out by 4:00PM. RIGHT... I pick the patient up at 1:45PM with the aide riding along, and I'm supposed to go back for them at 3:30PM to run them home. However, the doctors office doesn't even call them back until 4:15PM. As it's late in the day I'm told to just wait, so I do. But the aide is also stuck there and it doesn't matter that their family is waiting on them as well. So the patient finally gets out at 4:45PM and being in a wheelchair takes several minutes to load and later unload. Now we're all stuck in rush hour traffic and I get the patient home and through the door at 5:20PM. The aide STILL has to do dinner and final stuff for the client and winds up over two (2) hours late getting home. NOTE THAT THEY DO NOT GET OVERTIME FOR THIS!!! The olde law doesn't allow this for a domestic worker and the employer(S) sure as hell don't offer it out of the goodness of their hearts. At least I get the overtime if I go over 40 hours a week, but not home health aides. (I don't know about the nurses.)

And we still expect them to be bright, cheery, and walk on water for their patients...

Regards,

Doug[/COLOR]

 

[Double T]

That hospital/care facility better hope nobody “white” under her “care” comes to the slightest bit of harm.
How much will the lawsuit start at? I’m betting 2 million.

Actually, it would quickly be passed to her. Honestly, IU should terminate and report to the ISBN.

 

[Libertarian01]

They don't paid for their hours worked? That sucks.

They get paid, but no overtime as I understand it. There is much here I am ignorant of, but it is a very sucky situation.

 

[terrehautian]

I play one at a TV station.

Another tv worker. I’m glad to be on vacation for six working days. Not watching local tv at all.

 

[GREEN607]

This isnt anything new or surprising. Racism is very common .. she just got caught. The only example that this will make is that in the future people will be more careful not to get caught linking work to social media. In my opinion shes free to say/think how she wants.

While I would agree, that she can exercise her "freedom of speech" just like any other citizen here in the good old U.S.A.- I can guarantee you that this obviously disturbed young woman NEVER gave a single fleeting thought, to how many WHITE ancestors of mine (and probably yours), died fighting for the Union in the Civil War..... so that HER ancestors could freely walk the streets, buy what they needed to survive, own land, etc, etc. My opinion is that SHE and her social attitude are the trash we don't need in Indy.

 

[TheDude]

I guess I shouldn't be surprised at how many people here aren't really upset with this. This is becoming all too common these days.

 

[PistolBob]

Did she get her butt fired?

 

[femurphy77]

Sounds like she knows she is screwed and no longer has this job or likely any future in healthcare.

What? Are you suggesting she be blacklisted?


Or whatever the "culturally sensitive" phrase is now.

 

[KellyinAvon]

Did she get her butt fired?

It's a definite maybe at this point.

Editor’s note: In a push alert Sunday, we said that IU Health fired Baker. That’s inaccurate as details around the decision are not known at this time.


INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – An IU Health nurse is no longer an employee after an investigation was launched Saturday into a controversial Tweet.

IU Health nurse no longer an employee after investigation into controversial tweet | FOX59

 

[halfmileharry]

Sometimes you just can’t fix stupid!!!!!!! Waste of a 1 month nursing career. Gonna be a rough road for her now.

Somehow or another the public will pay for another profession for her.
She's a prime example of color has nothing to do with being a dumbazz redneck bottom feeder.

 

[Expat]

What? Are you suggesting she be blacklisted?


Or whatever the "culturally sensitive" phrase is now.

As Printcraft pointed out earlier, who would want the potential liability of employing her.

 

[Mgderf]

As Printcraft pointed out earlier, who would want the potential liability of employing her.

She can still serve fries with that.
Oh wait, she'd likely be forced to serve WHITE people. THAT'S not going to happen...

 

[Dr.Midnight]

I wonder what's happened in her life to fill her with so much hate.

 

[hoosierdoc]

I'm shocked we have yet to hear from our resident expert on racism. Shocked I tell you.

 

[Dr.Midnight]

I'm shocked we have yet to hear from our resident expert on racism. Shocked I tell you.