29th Street Ballroom
Bad Practice
RECEIVED Sat., Sept. 3, 2016
Dear Editor,
In 2008, I wrote (and you printed) a letter that got me fired from my nursing job at Brackenridge Hospital. Basically, it described Seton's practice of favoring insured patients over uninsured in emergency surgical situations during the ROT Rally. I didn't give a shit; it felt real good because my patients were suffering at the time and I was pissed.
In 1994, I wrote (and you printed) a letter that described the lies Seton administrators were telling the City Council in order to get ahold of Brackenridge Hospital, which was up for sale at the time. (They didn't really care about the adult portion; it was the Children's Hospital that was the big money-maker.) I didn't get fired because I faked the name, but man, they were looking for that goddamn big-mouthed nurse who almost torpedoed the negotiations.
I have many old nurse-friends who work there still and are telling me that Seton/Brackenridge is using flimsy excuses to fire nurses who have been working there for upwards of 40 years, so they don't have to pay them their retirement benefits. These women have put in decades of backbreaking, compassionate bedside care, been yelled at by arrogant, narcissist doctors, nickeled and dimed by ignorant administrators who only care about their bottom line and never the patient … and now these "Catholics" are going to screw some of the most dedicated workers in any profession? I know for a fact that St. David's has been doing this to nurses for a while, because, once again, it's happening to my dear friends.
Obviously if you print this, I won't get fired. But I'd better not get sick in this town either.
In 2008, I wrote (and you printed) a letter that got me fired from my nursing job at Brackenridge Hospital. Basically, it described Seton's practice of favoring insured patients over uninsured in emergency surgical situations during the ROT Rally. I didn't give a shit; it felt real good because my patients were suffering at the time and I was pissed.
In 1994, I wrote (and you printed) a letter that described the lies Seton administrators were telling the City Council in order to get ahold of Brackenridge Hospital, which was up for sale at the time. (They didn't really care about the adult portion; it was the Children's Hospital that was the big money-maker.) I didn't get fired because I faked the name, but man, they were looking for that goddamn big-mouthed nurse who almost torpedoed the negotiations.
I have many old nurse-friends who work there still and are telling me that Seton/Brackenridge is using flimsy excuses to fire nurses who have been working there for upwards of 40 years, so they don't have to pay them their retirement benefits. These women have put in decades of backbreaking, compassionate bedside care, been yelled at by arrogant, narcissist doctors, nickeled and dimed by ignorant administrators who only care about their bottom line and never the patient … and now these "Catholics" are going to screw some of the most dedicated workers in any profession? I know for a fact that St. David's has been doing this to nurses for a while, because, once again, it's happening to my dear friends.
Obviously if you print this, I won't get fired. But I'd better not get sick in this town either.
Tom Bowman RN