Immigrant women receive dubious hysterectomies and staffers openly neglect even basic COVID precautions at Georgia’s Irwin County Detention Center, says LPN Dawn Wooten in a complaint filed by four non-governmental organizations.
According to Wooten, the private immigrant detention facility has refused to test symptomatic inmates, has not been isolating those suspected of having the virus, and is disregarding mandatory CDC social distancing practices. Wooten’s complaint also notes that she and other nurses have been alarmed by the inordinate number of hysterectomy operations performed at the Center. In reference to the frequent and questionable hysterectomies one detainee described the detention center as “an experimental concentration camp.”
COVID-19 safety and treatment are given short shrift at the center, and Wooten says that even before the pandemic the facility was often dilatory in providing medical care for detained immigrants. Since the pandemic, the complaint alleges, the center has made almost no use of its two rapid-response COVID testing machines, and has instead sent swabs to be tested at a local hospital. Wooten was told she should not be “wasting tests” on people she suspected of being infected, and when she inquired about testing one detainee, a co-worker responded, “He ain’t got no damn corona, Wooten.”
In addition to failing to provide PPE for staff working directly with confirmed cases of COVID-19, Wooten’s complaint states that the facility forced symptomatic staff to continue to work in the facility and threatened them with discipline if they refused to work in dangerous conditions. Because she spoke out against such practices, Wooten says that she was transferred from her full-time position to a part-time job in which her shifts consisted of a few hours a month.
On Tuesday, September 15, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for an investigation. Regarding the alleged misuse of hysterectomies on immigrant women detainees, Pelosi said “The DHS Inspector General must immediately investigate the allegations detailed in this complaint. Congress and the American people need to know why and under what conditions so many women, reportedly without their informed consent, were pushed to undergo this extremely invasive and life-altering procedure.” She also called attention to the neglect of COVID safety measures and proper treatment, and referred to “ICE’s egregious handling of the coronavirus pandemic, in light of reports of their refusal to test detainees including those who are symptomatic, the destruction of medical requests submitted by immigrants and the fabrication of medical records.”
Project South, one of the organizations filing the complaint, states that “ICDC (Irwin County Detention Center) has a long track record of human rights violations.”
For more details on this story and quotes from Dawn Wooten, see the article in The Intecept.
Nursing is consistently voted the most trusted of all professions. One that involves providing medical and personal care for individuals at their most vulnerable. So, why should nurses consider carrying nursing liability insurance to protect themselves from litigation? Because we live in an increasingly litigious society. Nurses are human, and, unfortunately, they can make mistakes.
Upping the Odds?
Having your own policy does not increase your chances of being brought into litigation. Whether or not you—as a named defendant—have your own malpractice insurance policy wouldn’t be discovered until the lawsuit was actually filed. A plaintiff’s attorney “names multiple defendants in a lawsuit in an attempt to access additional sets of insurance limits and increase the chance for a higher settlement,” according to nurse attorney Katherine J. Pohlman, MS, RN, JD.
Look Out for Number One
The employers’ coverage protects the hospital’s liability first and foremost. Nurse employees may have protection in the case of a lawsuit, but they’d be relying on the attorney retained to protect the hospital and not a privately retained attorney hired to protect the nurse and their own interests. Under an employers’ insurance, nurses share the liability limitations (how much money is available to cover the lawsuit) with every other employee named in the litigation. And it’s possible that the award settlement may not be fully covered by that policy, resulting in potential out of pocket legal expenses for employees, including nurses. Further, the employers’ policy protection for nurses ends when that employment ends, meaning you can still be held liable even if you are working elsewhere at the time of the lawsuit.
Is There Enough to Go Around?
There are some positions which may not be covered by an
employer’s liability insurance, such as contract workers or travelers. Nurses
should not assume that they are covered and should inquire with their employer.
And how do nurses know what the limitations of liability are for that
coverage?
An individual policy belongs to the nurse and would clearly
identify what is covered and what the monetary limitations for litigation
awards would be. Most importantly, individual policies held by nurses will
follow them wherever they may work, even if they are a travel nurse or
self-employed.
Unanticipated Liabilities
Nurse liability insurance can protect nurses in ways that many nurses overlook. A nurse may not even make an error or cause harm to be named in a lawsuit. A patient who perceives wrongdoing can initiate litigation that can cause financial harm to individuals who have done nothing wrong. A nurse can be utterly meticulous in their practice and documentation and still find themselves embroiled in litigation, which can cost them dearly.
Many nurses are often casually asked for health-related advice by colleagues, friends, and family members. Well-intended advice that leads to someone pursuing a course of action (or not pursuing, as the case may be) could potentially lead to perceived or actual harm. An individual policy would protect a nurse in these circumstances as well.
Board Action
Lastly, individual policies protect nurses from actions taken against them by their Board of Nursing. Legal representation in this instance would be covered by the policy as well. Many advanced practice specialty nurses would be unwise to practice without it, such as nurse midwives, nurse anesthetists, and nurse practitioners.
Insurance provides protection. It’s why we carry homeowners
and automobile insurance. Surely the annual cost of nurse liability insurance
is a worthwhile expenditure in the face of the risk that nurses take when
caring for their patients.
