i live in baltimore,md.started work at speciality hospital in oct.2002my manager she started bulling me in march of 2003. i had pt that had blood sugar of 47 i had given him glucose vis gt and report off to on coming nurse that she needed to do another bllod sugar since i was getting off at this tuime 7;30 p.m the next incedent was in sept 2003 i had missed 5 day sick leave i call out at approaite time before shift started our policy says you can miss as much as ten days.on the 26th oct.i went down stairs to take fifteen minute break,i told unit secetary and another nurse that i was leaving floor,i said nothing about anything going on with my patients because at time the were fine.my break was interperted by unit secetary calling on radio says i need to come back to floor,which i did one my patient had gotten out bed and fell,i did visual assesment on her doctor was there.i was upset that the other nurse hadn't taken care of my patient and i was called off my break.i would never call someone off there break i would take care problem myself.i went back down to finish my break,my manager said there would be repucutions for this.i went in to work on tuesday we had meeting.i had wrote out everything that had happened.she tried to give me termination paper i would accept them.i gave her my resignation before she could give me her papers.do i have case here sorry for long post.

I'm not sure if I understand the situation. Let me recap. It sounds like you were terminated because you went on a break, leaving your patients to the care of a second nurse and the unit manager. You notified both that you were going on a break. At the time you went on break, your patients were without urgent needs. You were called off the break because one of your patients fell down. The others on the floor did not assist your patient as you say you would have. You went out to complete your break because you observed that her/his doctor was there assisting the patient. You ended up resigning, in lieu of being fired, for the incident.

Though you did not include a question with your post, I am assuming that you are curious as to whether you have any recourse on this matter.

The following is my response to the situation that I understand to be the case.

1) An employer can terminate an employee for any reason at any time, so long as there isn't a written agreement requiring otherwise OR as long as the employer is not violating any laws, such as laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of age, disability, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion, gender or other statuses protected by state or local law OR laws prohibiting retaliation against employees who protect their rights, such as filing a wage claim.
2) Your employer terminated you, it sounds like, because they felt that you left your patients without adequate care.
3) Even though you told the other persons on duty that you were going on break, you did not brief them on the care of your assigned patients. Though I am not an expert in medical care issues, it seems that not briefing the others about your patients could have implied that there wasn't anything to worry about. To me, you should have specifically asked them to cover for you AND you should have briefed them on potential issues.
4) The doctor was assisting the patient so you went back on break. I can understand why your supervisor was not pleased. While you may have felt everything was under control, the perception you gave by going out on break may appear to be negligent and uncaring.
5) By resigning, you have caused harm to yourself for several reasons. One, it is likely that you will not be eligible to receive unemployment and, two, if there was discrimination, you did not take the avenues available within the hospital to remedy the situation. This will lessen your ability to prove that you were a victim of discrimination.

Let me know if you have any other questions.