Posts Tagged ‘HB224’
Abusive Bosses in Medical Fields Targeted
Wednesday, February 4th, 2009
By James Thalmanr Deseret News (Salt Lake City, UT) February 4, 2009
Hospitals would become bully-free zones and bad-boss behavior prohibited in state statute under a bill that a legislative review committee on Tuesday earmarked for interim study.
Despite opposition to the bill by the head of the state Division of Risk Management, former district Judge Roger Livingston, counter testimony from disgruntled health-care workers who support HB224 was too compelling for lawmakers to ignore.
They heard and were given written accounts of ostensibly competent, caring medical providers being driven from their jobs and even out of the state by supervisors who induce stress in an already high-stress occupation. The hyper-patrolling and controlling oversight — which included employees having to ask to go the bathroom are far from uncommon and are adding injury to the insult in the form of serious mistakes and harm to patients, committee members were told.
Tags: bully MD, HB224, healthcare bullying, Healthy Workplace Bill, Sandstrom, Utah
Posted in Bullying in the News, Health Care, Legislative Campaign | Post a Comment »
Lawmakers May Study Abusive Workplace Issues
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009
By Heather May Salt Lake Tribune February 3, 2009
This summer, lawmakers may study whether they can and should outlaw “an abusive work environment” in government-owned health care settings, such as the University of Utah.
Members of the House Health and Human Services weren’t ready to legislate against bad behavior, and instead recommended HB224 be studied.
Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem, said the bill is aimed mainly at residency programs where there have been instances of supervisors targeting trainees with verbal abuse or behavior aimed at undermining their work, forcing them to quit.
Bill supporters noted current law doesn’t protect employees from such abuse unless the harassment is based on sex or race. They said intimidating behavior can psychologically harm employees and can lead to medical errors when providers are scared to speak up. A national accrediting agency now requires hospitals to have codes of conduct on such behavior.
But opponents, including the state’s risk manager, said it would be a vast departure from current law. And they said it would invite lawsuits, since it would be creating a new protected class of employees in what is now a right-to-work state.
Tags: HB224, healthcare bullying, Healthy Workplace Bill, Utah
Posted in Bullying in the News, Legislative Campaign | 5 Comments »
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