During this same period, the BORN has repeatedly evaded the issues and refused to hear all testimony. The dismissal decision was rescinded after a firestorm of protest and activism by the national nursing community and legal initiatives taken by Adams' legal defense team. All nurses, regardless of their position, MUST be held to the same standard Nurses are being disciplined and terminated by other nurses for attempting to address concerns about safe staffing and patient care. Nurses have always been a patient's first line of defense within health care, and that has never been more true than it is in today's health care climate. Nurses are unable to advocate for patients when their jobs are threatened.
Nurses have families, bills, children.
State Boards of Nursing license nurses to practice, and are charged with protecting the public welfare by insuring safe standards of practice. These standards apply to all registered nurses, but in Massachusetts, unsafe and even illegal practice by administrative RNs is ignored while staff nurses are quickly disciplined. In fact, it is the egregious and punitive conduct of the BORN towards staff nurses in several cases that has led to the MNA's BORN Reform campaign. But YOU can help. Whether you are a nurse or a health care consumer, you can support Massachusetts's nurses in their efforts to achieve an environment in which they can protect patients without retaliation.