Arizona - Hostile Work Enviornment

[azclnc]

I work in a medical center in Arizona and have witnessed and been on the recieving end of demeaning and condensending situations from a physician. This activity has been going on for over 14 years. Some of the situations have been documented and some have not. We have lost nurses over this physicians behavior over the years.

Recently he had an outburst which put a patient at risk, he was sitting in a chair yelling out orders and not assisting with the patient care. This incident was reported to administration and he was suspended for a short period of time.

With in a few months of the above incident, he started up during the care of another patient. He was very intimidating to the nurses that were assisting in the care of the patient, he was even demeaning and condensending to the patient herself. Because of his intimidating demeanor, the nurses were unable to perform thier tasks to his liking and he reprimanded them in front of the patient and made them redo thier task. He came to me multiple times to complain that "these nurses do not know what they are doing". He never asked me to assist him and I had a patient that I was already responsible for.

This insident was written up and brought to administration by 3 of the 6 nurses that were on duty. We all reported this independently and all were consistant in our statements. Upon interviewing the rest of the staff that were on that night, all statements were consistant.

When this physician became aware of the complaint, he threaghtened myself through another staff. He threaghtened to report me to the Board of Nursing for refusing his requests to care for this patient. He never made such a request. He also sent a warning to one of the other nurses to the effect "we need to rectify this situation or you will not be able to be on-call with me this weekend".

This physician also started filling a compliant of "patient abuse" against her, which he did eventually withdrew when he saw that this did not discurage her from persuing this complaint.

This physician was notified not to make contact with the staff until further notice. He then approached this other threaghtened nurse's significant other about this situation and then came to the department and hung around the area where this nurse was attempting to work. His presence was very threaghtening and intimidateing to this nurse. She has subsequentially taken medical leave for fear of this physician.

The rest of the staff is very fearful that he will place a patient at risk to "set us up" to look bad or find a way to damage our credibility or our liscense. This type of thing has happened in the past. This physician has far reaching arms in our small community and is (in our educated opinion) mentally unstable. He is capable of doing just about anything to get to us. Including false accusations to the Board of Nursing.

My questions are:
1) Do we have a good case to sue for a hostile work enviornment?
2) If so, would the physician be one to name in the suit or would we name the Hospital and Medical Staff for failure to protect us from him?
3) What evidence do we need to show or gether to make this case?
4) I/we also would like to see if there might be a referral?
5) Many staff are looking to join in this suit; What criteria do they need to meet to join?
6) The administration is still working on a resolution in this matter. Does this case depend on thier resolution or do we still have a case based on his prior actions?

Thanks in advance for any input. Any replies can be made to my email address at azclnc@cableone.net

[cbg]

1) Do we have a good case to sue for a hostile work enviornment?

No. What you describe does not come even remotely close to meeting the legal definition of an HWE. Despite what many people mistakenly believe, an HWE exists ONLY if you are being subjected to either sexual harassment or illegal discrimination under Title VII and related laws (race, religion, national origin etc.). It has nothing to do with co-workers, managers, supervisors or other individuals being nasty.

2) If so, would the physician be one to name in the suit or would we name the Hospital and Medical Staff for failure to protect us from him?

If you had a case, which you don't, you'd have to file a claim with the EEOC or your state human rights division before you could file a lawsuit against anyone. A right-to-sue letter from one or the other is mandatory before you can go to court.

3) What evidence do we need to show or gether to make this case?

You need evidence that an HWE as I defined above exists;

4) I/we also would like to see if there might be a referral?

This site does not provide referrals.

5) Many staff are looking to join in this suit; What criteria do they need to meet to join?

The same criteria as defined above; that they are being treated in this manner BECAUSE of their race, religion, national origin etc. If he's an "equal opportunity jerk" that's not actionable.

6) The administration is still working on a resolution in this matter. Does this case depend on thier resolution or do we still have a case based on his prior actions?

Based on what you have posted, you don't have a case at all. That doesn't mean the administration can't or shouldn't do something about his behavior - they can and should. It does mean that if they fail to do something, you have no legal recourse. You don't get to sue for every unpleasantness. This is simply not an HWE under the law.

Since it involves patient care, however, I wonder if the licensing board might be of any assistance to you if the administration fails to take any action.

[azclnc]

cbg

Thank you for your input. As of this time the physician has resigned gracefully from this hospital.

[cbg]

Which is a much better solution for all.