Lawsuit claims hospital granted man's request for no black nurses
FLINT, Mich. (AP) - An African-American nurse claims a Michigan hospital agreed to a man's request that no black nurses care for his newborn.
Forty-nine-year-old Tonya Battle tells the Detroit Free Press she didn't know how to react when she learned about the request in October at Hurley Medical Center in Flint. Battle sued last month in Genesee Circuit Court seeking punitive damages.
Battle's lawsuit claims a note was posted on an assignment clipboard reading "No African American nurse to take care of baby." She says it was later removed, but claims black nurses weren't assigned to the baby's care for about a month.
Hurley President Melany Gavulic said in a statement Tuesday the father showed Battle's supervisor a swastika tattoo, which angered the staff. She says supervisors were concerned for the staff's safety.
Forty-nine-year-old Tonya Battle tells the Detroit Free Press she didn't know how to react when she learned about the request in October at Hurley Medical Center in Flint. Battle sued last month in Genesee Circuit Court seeking punitive damages.
Battle's lawsuit claims a note was posted on an assignment clipboard reading "No African American nurse to take care of baby." She says it was later removed, but claims black nurses weren't assigned to the baby's care for about a month.
Hurley President Melany Gavulic said in a statement Tuesday the father showed Battle's supervisor a swastika tattoo, which angered the staff. She says supervisors were concerned for the staff's safety.
a newborn is in a hospital for a month? unless the hospital was very well staffed with other than black nurses, it is amazing that it was able from a staffing perspective to honor the demand. It certainly seems that the dad is a biggoted racist, and i agree with other posters that the hospital was trying to protect it staff. as for Ms. Battle, once her lawsuit is settled she likely will never need to change poopy diapers again.
Playing devil's advocate, other than being offended, what damages are they suing for? Did it financially impact them by not caring for one patient in the hospital? I doubt their hours were cut so no financial impact.
How about damaging their reputation? Doesn't sound like it. I do not think the hospital or anyone else for that matter thinks them less qualified or doubts their personal character. I believe the hospital was put in a very difficult position and was trying to avoid a confrontation while caring for a defensless infant. Why punish the baby for the idiot father.
While the patient was showing malice, I do not believe the hospital was.Â
If I sued everytime some idiot said or did something offensive around me I would never leave the courthouse.
I was in a coma for 5 wks and ICU for a month. I could care less who took care of me as long as I was taken care of. This guy I can not agree with and he needs some retraining in human relations.Â
Hey jackass.... the hospital was attempoting to PROTECT YOU from the possibility of physical harm from a potentially phsycho, stark-raving-mad racist bigot... these types of hateful people have a propensity toward violence. This is called minimizing risk (and ensuring the safety of your staff)- hospitals do a lot of it. Even paying the settlement that will result from this suit will be classified as a better move than the potential outcomes had the hospital ignored the wishes (more of a threat IMO than a request) of the Father.
Tell the Father to go elsewhere ? Good luck with that- Pretty sure you can't simply refuse care because someone's a bigot. Of course, this does nothing but enrage the father and escalate the situation. Not to mention, all you're doing is making it someone else's problem (truly the American Way, eh?)
Next time, let the pissed off parent rip the nurse apart ? THAT is what you people want ? Let her FAMILY sue the hospital for not following the wishes of a parent ? Good call, that's worth a lot more than a law suit in which the Plaintiff has ZERO ZERO ZERO damages.Â
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The hospital did the RIGHT thing. They didn't condone the request, they were simply attempting to minimize risk. It would be sure be a lovely world if everything worked as it SHOULD, but it doesn't. Get the hell out of your sheltered bubble and take a spin in the real world for a while. YOU explain face-face to a racist bastard that he's wrong and you will not be honoring his wishes as far as the care of his newborn child- until then, get off your damn soap box.
@SegKast I used to work in the medical profession and can tell you that patients were not allowed to bully the staff.  If they became belligerent there was protocol for that.  There were times that patients did become aggressive and it was dealt with.  Hospitals have security personnel and are capable of dealing with these sorts.  I was not defending the lawsuit the nurse was bringing, I was merely stating my view and you are stating yours.  I do so civilly and without name calling.
The hospital just should have said that his request was not possible and that if it was a problem he would have to go elsewhere. I find it surprising that the hospital gave in just because he flashed his swastika tattoo. Â Was that supposed to be a threat? Â And if the hospital felt threatened and say they wanted to protect their staff why did they not just call the police and report the guy and his threat if that is their claim?
I always request only scantily dressed hot large topped ladies anytime I am in the hospital
As I see it, the hospital is in a tough spot. Â They cannot refuse to care for the baby. Â And they are clearing not going to argue with him about being a racist. Â Besides, what good would that do? Â Would he really listen to reason and agree suddenly? Â Not likely. Â I feel like they did the right thing. Â They honored his wish- however wrong that may seem and protected their staff. Â That's really too bad for his baby though-I bet it missed out on caring, loving nursing care.
I remember this story being told a while back, before anything to do with a lawsuit was said. Is the dad a bigot and an idiot to boot? Yep....but in the other story it was said that black nurses were kept away due to the fear of violent behavior erupting from the father. They were kept away for THEIR SAFETY and now they want to sue.....typical. The only person who should be looked at negatively is the bigot who threatened violence against a specific race for doing their job.
So as an experiment. Next time I'm in the hospital I'll ask that only Chinese female nurses from the small farming community of Jiangxia, Hubei be allowed to work on the same floor as I am in.
Bottom line, the hospital should have told the dad that picking and choosing the caregivers based on the color of someone's skin was not an option. If he couldnât accept that, then he would have to go to another hospital.What if he said only male doctors or only blond female nurses?Would that be any different? Racism, sexism, or other forms of discrimination should not be tolerated.
@The WA Mama - I don't know if a hospital can do that - legally.  I worked in the hotel industry for years and one time, we had a transgender male who was a super guy and a fabulous room cleaner, but he loved dressing up and many of our guests refused to have him clean their rooms because of the way he looked.  The hotel agreed with the guests and he had less work and therefore less money but he didn't mind and he never sued but I thought to myself, those guests sure lost out on really excellent service.  He always went above and beyond.  I suspect he might have made up the difference in tips... Â
The hospital should have rejected his demands since the benefits of professional staff would supercede the ridiculous, ideological demands of an irrational man who brandishes a symbol of violence to get what he wants. The father would have no recourse on this issue and would've had to go to another hospital. Surgeries make up a huge portion of hospitals' income, so it's not surprising the administration would grant such a request.Â
This guy is an ass. If I worked at the hospital I would've made sure ONLY black nurses cared for the baby. Then if he caught on, I would've said I misunderstood his racist request.
On second thought, I would comply with the nurse request and then make sure a black doctor delivered the baby.
I am not sure what is worse in this case...the bigotry of the person making the request or the idiocy of this lawsuit. If this nurse's hours were cut short because of lack of work I can see it, but simply for following a request of a patient the nurse filed a suit?
@aintno1special I disagree. The bigot made the demand and the hospital enabled and endorsed it by reassigning the nurse AND posting the racist demand for the staff. This nurse has every right to the suit as the hospital should have just politely told the guy that they could no accommodate his request and that'd have been the end of it.
Unless they were afraid the man might become violent and that someone might get hurt. Some of these people are unstable when it comes to their beliefs. Unfortunately there is no way to make a person stop being a bigot.
@what? What is her claim, honestly? If it did not hurt her financially, what punitive damages is she seeking? That is my issue with her law suit. Obviously this guy is an ignorant racist, but perhaps the hospital could have been attempting to remove the risk of any escalated issues by fulfilling his wish? (a black nurse goes in..he goes postal?) I always think there is two sides to a story...and in this case I am sure there was some reason to granting his wish, outside of money.
@OHREALLY??? I feel that the hospital didn't make the best choice either, but I was not there, so mine opinion is speculation. As I said if he made the request without forcing a racist tone, it would be difficult to deny the request...My guess is he didn't, but again I wasn't there, so I can't say for sure. If there was another facility in close enough proximity they could have turned him away with options...but I honestly think they were in a bad position...and they chose what they thought would be the lesser of the evils.
Ethical dilemmas in healthcare involve issues surrounding professional actions and client care decisions. They can lead to discomfort and conflict among the members of the healthcare team; between the providers and the client & family; or among the provider, nurses, and healthcare organization--as it is with this case and the lawsuit.
Refusing his request is not refusing him care, because they would still have respect for autonomy, which means the patient's right to decide what they want. His choices would be to accept their care with the staff they have, go to another facility that may be able to accomodate his request, or have enough money like Jay-Z & Beyonce to buy out a whole wing of the hospital and pay for what ever and who ever  heathcare team you want on that wing. Other than that, he would not have any grounds for a lawsuit.
In this ethical dilemma, the only legitimate gounds for a lawsuit is the one being filed now. The hospital made a very stupid decision, because they didn't weigh the situation carefully. Healthcare providers have very strong feelings and values about their work with clients. By choosing to grant this man's request, the hospital also chose to invalidate these nurses work as healthcare providers at their hospital based on the color of their skin.
@OHREALLY??? It would only if he stated the request because of purely racial reasons...if he just asked for a type of person be avoided ...without a reason it is not against any regulations. If it is not illegal the only way to avoid this is to have written office protocol against it.
Actually, if you own multiple healthcare clinics as you claim, then you should know that it is required by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations to have an ethics committee that would immediately recognized this as an ethical dilemma and most likely conclude that they could not accommodate his request at their facility.
@DarkParty @what? @aintno1special I agree, the lawsuit doesn't make sense. I don't agree with frivilous lawsuits, even though I despise bigots.
@what? - I worked in a hospital years ago - I'm a white woman - and we had a very eccentric, very wealthy white male patient - request only certain members of the staff enter his hotel floor, everybody else was excluded.  We weren't pulled from our job, we had lots of other patients to take care of and I don't think these nurses were pulled from their job (or I hope they weren't, i didn't read that here).  I wouldn't want to be around a patient who didn't want me there.  In this case, it might have been lethal for either the nurse or for him, if they had been near his baby. I do feel sympathy for that child - being raised by a racist. But anyway, I still don't see the need for a lawsuit. Â
@what? I do understand the point, and do not condone the actions of the hospital, but as an owner of multiple clinics myself I know that unless you have protocol for dealing with this kind of request in writing, you can get in trouble for refusing care...it is not a case of direct discrimination as defined by law (even though we all know it is)...sending him packing could result in a law suit levied by the man for refusal of care...Not saying this is the reason, but a possibility. He could argue he had a horrible experience with a black nurse in the past and is mentally scarred by the incident and the hospital refused to give his family treatment because of his requests...in reality things are not as simple as we would hope them to be...and in business it is always about CYA unfortunately...I have always done right by my employees and patients, and even when I have had someone unsatisfied with a service/procedure they were always happy with the clinic.
@what? @aintno1special Was this nurse stopped from doing her regular duties with other patients? I did not read that in the story.
She was not told to go sit in a corner, she just wasn't assigned to one racist's kid.
@aintno1special @what? I would agree with you if he'd have asked for purple clothes for the child instead of blue. That isn't exactly what happened here.Â
Let's look at it from another angle, I have no idea what you do or what your ethnicity is, but say for the sake of discussion someone came into your workplace and made the demand to your employer that you and everyone else of your ethnicity, are to be prohibited from doing whatever it is that you do. Your employer than pulls you from your job and sends you off elsewhere. Just to pacify that customer. Your training, your time in the field, even your time with your employer are somehow meaningless to that demand. Now think of the laws we have that protect all of us from being discriminated against in the workplace based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, ethnicity, etc. Considering all this, why would the nurse not have a legitimate reason for a lawsuit?
@aintno1special The Idiocy of the lawsuit is much worse.
I loved the MASH episode where they slowly starting dying the bigot's skin darker when he was sleeping, then when he noticed they told him they accidentally gave him a transfusion of the "wrong" blood. Maybe something like that would work here.
Consequence of affirmative action.
@2times Say what?!? I know I am going to regret asking this but how did you manage to come up with that?