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I definitely get your point Laurie and how you think the hospital is backing up the discrimination. My concern is, losing my ability to request a particular nurse/doctor or what type of nurse/doctor I want and the hospital saying no even if it is feasible.
I also agree that I would never make any decision like that if it was emergent. I prefer a female ob/gyn like I said but...during delivery I didn't care who walked in. I just prefer talking to women during my routine and problem visits.
I thought we were talking about hospitals, though. I have only been in hospitals to have babies, or surgery, or get treated for some specific problem vs. choosing a doctor that I deal with regularly. In my personal experience (for whatever that's worth), once I hit the hospital I don't get to pick & choose who I am treated by, although the doctor I booked the procedure with comes to take care of that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jessica80
Am I missing something? Do people go to hospitals for check-ups and regular visits? Because then you could book in advance with a specific person, no?
When you have a baby in the NICU, you can be there for weeks and even months. That nurse is with your child on a very small ratio of a few babies to one nurse. The NICU experience is very difficult, dealing with a nurse that you do not like makes a very difficult situation more difficult. It is my experience, that both in a NICU experience or any hospital experience you can request a different nurse. If another nurse is not available, that you are out of luck, but you can always at least request someone else.Quote:
Originally Posted by freddieflounder101
When Caitlyn was in the NICU one her nurses was from the Philippines. I had a hard time understanding her English. It had nothing at all to do with the color of her skin, just my not being able to understand her. I did not request a different nurse, but I could have understood someone else wanting to request someone else.
I think you should be able to request a different nurse because of the care they are giving or the communication (as you mentioned) or the relationship you have with them, but the hospital should NOT consider skin color a valid reason to honor a request. I just can't see how that's acceptable at all, under any circumstances.Quote:
Originally Posted by AlyssaEimers
Yep, I'm 100% with Laurie on this one. If the patient then wants to refuse care, they can sign an AMA waiver and be done with it. A hospital should never support race backed hatred. Ditto if someone refused to work with an effeminate seeming male. Not okay.
The father's request was discrimination. Transferring a nurse to a different patient because the first patient asked for it is not. Bottom line, you shouldn't need to give a reason to request a different caregiver, and no one should be able to say someone else's reason for such a request isn't good enough. If she wants to sue someone, she should sue the father, not the hospital.
I disagree. Its a hospital. If someone is able and willing to treat you and refuse their care I don't believe that the hospital is responsible to cater to your whims. You should be left untreated and then be charged with criminal neglect should anything happen to your child because of your refusal of treatment. What if the NICU only had african american nurses that day? You believe that the hospital should call someone in from home to treat their special white baby? No way.
I dont know. He has the right to be racist. But the hospital that acted on that racism, isnt that what discrimination is, ACTING on racist beliefs?
I am actually pretty torn on this one, because I would rather they move her because he didnt like her skin colour, then he request she is moved because he claimed she wasnt doing a good job, when really it was because of her skin colour. One sucks and is racist, but the other could have an effect on her career which wouldnt be fair.
Should they call someone else in? Of course not. If there was no one else available, then he can make the decision of whether to accept who is there, or go somewhere else. But if there are other capable people who can be moved around, then I have no problem with it. I got frustrated with the nurse who couldn't place an IV in my arm in three tries and told her to go get someone else. Are you saying that I should have been discharged because I refused treatment? That's ridiculous. I wasn't refusing treatment, I was refusing to be treated BY HER, which is my legal right. The only reason race is an issue here is because the father said it was. It doesn't matter what his reason was, if she was wearing Mickey Mouse scrubs and he's boycotting Disney, he still has the right to request a different nurse and the hospital has an obligation to try to accomodate his request.Quote:
Originally Posted by Potter75
Leaving someone untreated because they request (or demand) a change in care is ridiculous (and criminal) We all have to remain in charge or our bodies and the choices made about them at all times. I do think this dad was a douche bag, and that his parenting needs to be looked at closely, but we cannot take away a patients right to choose their path of careQuote:
Originally Posted by Potter75