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I thought this deserves its own thread.

ER doctor who criticized Bellingham hospital’s coronavirus protections has been fired

An ER doctor has been fired after publicly decrying what he called a lack of protective measures against the novel coronavirus at PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center. The hospital is the only emergency facility for some 250,000 people in the...

www.seattletimes.com

 

[deleted480308]

Screw you teamhealth and bellingham.

Good work doc

 

[ShockIndex]

To be fair, he wasn’t fired just for social media pleas to get more PPE. He was fired for publishing what amounted to a free flowing critique of his hospital. I’m not saying that his ideas were without merit, but prefacing a social media post with “hopefully I still have a job after this” generally means that you should let that one sit in your ”drafts” folder for a day or two. I think sending that letter privately to the CMO is fine. However, putting something like that on Facebook probably violated tons of contract terms and is probably not a good idea for someone who wants to keep their job. Here is what got him canned:

 

[erdoc00]

To be fair, he wasn’t fired just for social media pleas to get more PPE. He was fired for publishing what amounted to a free flowing critique of his hospital. I’m not saying that his ideas were without merit, but prefacing a social media post with “hopefully I still have a job after this” generally means that you should let that one sit in your ”drafts” folder for a day or two. I think sending that letter privately to the CMO is fine. However, putting something like that on Facebook probably violated tons of contract terms and is probably not a good idea for someone who wants to keep their job. Here is what got him canned:

Violated "contract terms" lol

Give me an effing break. We are in a literal worldwide crisis right now, the likes of which has never been seen before in modern society. The ER docs are front and center in the disaster. You know what we need more than anything else right now? Protection to allow us to do our job safely. You know want doesnt help anyone? Dead and incapacitated doctors.

We are in a literal disaster and worldwide state of emergency of such severity that we are willing to risk a global economic shutdown to mitigate the effects of it. Why is this so hard for everyone to understand? Hospital administrators should be offering unlimited support and resources to us and showing the deepest gratitude possible for our assistance with managing this crisis. Instead, they are going over the accounting ledgers and trying to make cuts so they can minimize their financial losses. This would be like commanding officers becoming embittered that they can no longer afford their massages and steaks because soldiers are using too many bullets and having to replace damaged helmets too frequently.

The fact that there is even one iota of financial discussion surrounding the response to this is unacceptable. Doctors are literally putting their lives on the line; there is a very real chance that some of us may not survive this and that our families will be left without us. Every doctor that continues to work in an unprotected environment is contributing to the problem. We can either stand in solidarity against these egregious acts of selfishness and wanton disregard for human safety or we can watch our colleagues die as we go unprotected and unprepared to battle the greatest pandemic in modern history.

It is unbelievable to me that we even have to have this discussion.

 

[RustedFox]

We should draft a "physician bill of rights" and have AAEM take the CMGs to the mat to include/recognize it.

 

[Mad Jack]

To be fair, he wasn’t fired just for social media pleas to get more PPE. He was fired for publishing what amounted to a free flowing critique of his hospital. I’m not saying that his ideas were without merit, but prefacing a social media post with “hopefully I still have a job after this” generally means that you should let that one sit in your ”drafts” folder for a day or two. I think sending that letter privately to the CMO is fine. However, putting something like that on Facebook probably violated tons of contract terms and is probably not a good idea for someone who wants to keep their job. Here is what got him canned:

That seems perfectly reasonable to be honest

 

[Mad Jack]

If the public doesn't know what we are dealing with, nothing will be done, period

 

[Groove]

Dumb....and totally predictable. You can voice concerns without being a total idiot. Hospital attorneys were probably begging the CEO to axe this guy. He should have used his chain of command and quit with the negative social media posts. What did he expect?

 

[TheSingularity]

Team Health is garbage. I hope soon to be new grads are paying attention.

This guy is a ***** though.

 

[TheAverageDoctor]

This is terrible, infuriating, and sad. But it's also a reminder that the covid crisis hasn't changed anything about the business of medicine.

You still have non competes. You still have termination without cause. CMGs are still training our replacements.

We should draft a "physician bill of rights" and have AAEM take the CMGs to the mat to include/recognize it.

^this might help.

But so would FI. If your employer can get rid of you that quickly, you should be just as able to leave them.

Edit: And for goodness sake, remember that everything you post on social media is public. And on facebook it's attached to your real name! Employers can see that.

 

[RustedFox]

Dumb....and totally predictable. You can voice concerns without being a total idiot. Hospital attorneys were probably begging the CEO to axe this guy. He should have used his chain of command and quit with the negative social media posts. What did he expect?

I tried that whole "chain of command" thing for a few years.
That, and 1.09 got me a cup of coffee.

 

[Groove]

I tried that whole "chain of command" thing for a few years.
That, and 1.09 got me a cup of coffee.

Oh, I'm not saying it would actually produce anything. It's more to provide a outlet for the Cassandra physician who feels the need to point out the myriad of faults around them and expend energy naysaying in the hopes of transforming the hospital and society around them in to an alternate Utopian universe where everyone is dispensed N95s with the morning paper (PAPR?) at their doorstep. Most docs have a pretty good intelligence IQ but a horrible emotional IQ and no built in "Danger Will Robinson...Danger!" when they place their job at risk like this guy. I'm all for trying to exercise positive change in the work place, but at the end of the day....Hey, I like my job. Why lose it if I don't have to? I'll save all my big and brave "F-U" moments to c-suite when my retirement accounts are full.

 

[NYEMMED]

Teamhealth is being compliant with Hospital C-Suite policies that are not in the interest of protecting their physicians. They just want to protect their contract.

also TH is cutting physician hours, during a pandemic.....???

 

[bravotwozero]

Teamhealth is being compliant with Hospital C-Suite policies that are not in the interest of protecting their physicians. They just want to protect their contract.

also TH is cutting physician hours, during a pandemic.....???

Unfortunately not unique to TH, as volumes across the board have dropped, hours at my shop (non TH) have also been cut. That said, it is incredibly short sighted given the surge that is likely to happen in US metro areas, if not happened in some places already. We all know NYC and Seattle are bad, but now we've got hospital systems in New Orleans, Detroit, and Chicago getting overwhelmed as well.

 

[erdoc00]

Oh, I'm not saying it would actually produce anything. It's more to provide a outlet for the Cassandra physician who feels the need to point out the myriad of faults around them and expend energy naysaying in the hopes of transforming the hospital and society around them in to an alternate Utopian universe where everyone is dispensed N95s with the morning paper (PAPR?) at their doorstep. Most docs have a pretty good intelligence IQ but a horrible emotional IQ and no built in "Danger Will Robinson...Danger!" when they place their job at risk like this guy. I'm all for trying to exercise positive change in the work place, but at the end of the day....Hey, I like my job. Why lose it if I don't have to? I'll save all my big and brave "F-U" moments to c-suite when my retirement accounts are full.

If more docs were willing to vote with their feet we wouldn't be in the mess we're currently in. The job conditions some of you work in are absolutely astonishing. For a group of supposedly educated people it's amazing how many ER docs allow themselves to be completely exploited. Gotta make those car payments though, I guess.

I would happily lose my job to make a statement about unsafe work conditions. I would even go so far as to happily leave if one of my colleagues was fired over the same. I would rather be unemployed or cutting lawns than be complicit in sustaining the dumpster fire that most ERs and much of medicine has become.

 

[ShockIndex]

Teamhealth is being compliant with Hospital C-Suite policies that are not in the interest of protecting their physicians. They just want to protect their contract.

also TH is cutting physician hours, during a pandemic.....???

Unfortunately not unique to TH, as volumes across the board have dropped, hours at my shop (non TH) have also been cut. That said, it is incredibly short sighted given the surge that is likely to happen in US metro areas, if not happened in some places already. We all know NYC and Seattle are bad, but now we've got hospital systems in New Orleans, Detroit, and Chicago getting overwhelmed as well.

When you say cutting hours, do mean that directors are sending docs home early, temporarily adjusting shifts, and closing zones of the ED? Or, do you mean that they are reducing workforce size by terminating contracts?

The former makes sense to some degree - send docs home who are not needed that day so that that they are not needlessly exposed. The latter would make no sense.

 

[ShockIndex]

Violated "contract terms" lol

Give me an effing break. We are in a literal worldwide crisis right now, the likes of which has never been seen before in modern society. The ER docs are front and center in the disaster. You know what we need more than anything else right now? Protection to allow us to do our job safely. You know want doesnt help anyone? Dead and incapacitated doctors.
It is unbelievable to me that we even have to have this discussion.

You know, in all those zombie apocalypse movies it’s the histrionic one who gets eaten first, right. 😉

 

[NYEMMED]

When you say cutting hours, do mean that directors are sending docs home early, temporarily adjusting shifts, and closing zones of the ED? Or, do you mean that they are reducing workforce size by terminating contracts?

The former makes sense to some degree - send docs home who are not needed that day so that that they are not needlessly exposed. The latter would make no sense.

Adjusted the schedule to have no overlap, and solo coverage instead of triple...cutting about 20 hours per doc per month off the schedule

 

[GeneralVeers]

You know, in all those zombie apocalypse movies it’s the histrionic one who gets eaten first, right. 😉

Sometimes I cheer when those characters get eaten.......

 

[bravotwozero]

When you say cutting hours, do mean that directors are sending docs home early, temporarily adjusting shifts, and closing zones of the ED? Or, do you mean that they are reducing workforce size by terminating contracts?

The former makes sense to some degree - send docs home who are not needed that day so that that they are not needlessly exposed. The latter would make no sense.

The former

 

[GeneralVeers]

We are sending people home early. When on RVUs it makes sense as there's little lost income.

 

[erdoc00]

You know, in all those zombie apocalypse movies it’s the histrionic one who gets eaten first, right. 😉

With the meltdown that's about to happen, I dont think its gonna matter. Being eaten first might be the better option.

 

[RustedFox]

Okay, RustedFox's Rules:

Nobody should mention Financial Independence as a solution to the problem of improving our work conditions.

It doesn't help change the conditions.
It's not yet an option for the majority of us.
We all already know it would help each of us singularly.
And quite frankly, it's agitating.


As we were.

 

[hoot504]

New Position Statement: AAEM Position Statement on the Firing of Dr. Ming Lin by TeamHealth and PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center | AAEM - American Academy of Emergency Medicine

AAEM was established in 1993 to promote fair and equitable practice environments necessary to allow emergency physicians to deliver the highest quality of patient care.

www.aaem.org

AAEM might actually be getting a donation from me this year.

 

[RustedFox]

We are sending people home early. When on RVUs it makes sense as there's little lost income.

See, I'm all for this except for one thing: With the amount of money that the CMGs siphon off of our paychecks, we deserve to be paid to show up, as volumes cannot be predicted with any reasonable accuracy. You want me in the department? Pay me. Yes. The whole shift. Not in the budget, you say? Fire an administrator.

If I recall correctly, you once posted that some CMG had a "director of diversity". Yep. THAT sounds
like a quarter million a year waiting to be freed up, if you ask any reasonable person.

 

[Old_Mil]

"IHS Flooded With Applications As Physicians Realize the Res May Be The Best Place To Avoid The Zombie Apocaylpse"

 

[GeneralVeers]

See, I'm all for this except for one thing: With the amount of money that the CMGs siphon off of our paychecks, we deserve to be paid to show up, as volumes cannot be predicted with any reasonable accuracy. You want me in the department? Pay me. Yes. The whole shift. Not in the budget, you say? Fire an administrator.

I doubt I'd have a job if I presented that proposal. Considering our hourly is in the top 10% in the country, it would be hard to ask for more. I make the most money on the first four hours of my shift seeing the high acuity stuff. The last 3-4 hours is mainly level 5 stuff that doesn't reimburse well, and is annoying. I'm glad to cut 2 hours off the back end and enjoy an evening of quarantine.

If I recall correctly, you once posted that some CMG had a "director of diversity". Yep. THAT sounds
like a quarter million a year waiting to be freed up, if you ask any reasonable person.

That was USACS, and the salary was $400,000

 

[BoardingDoc]

The last 3-4 hours is mainly level 5 stuff that doesn't reimburse well, and is annoying. I'm glad to cut 2 hours off the back end and enjoy an evening of quarantine.

Typo? Or is the entire first few hours of your shift a never-ending stream of CC time? I just don't know what poorly paying max level (not counting critical care) charts are. Maybe you meant level 3 which is what most of my bull**** visits get coded as?

 

[GeneralVeers]

Typo? Or is the entire first few hours of your shift a never-ending stream of CC time? I just don't know what poorly paying max level (not counting critical care) charts are. Maybe you meant level 3 which is what most of my bull**** visits get coded as?

I meant triage level 4 and 5. We see people based on triage acuity levels.

 

[RustedFox]

That was USACS, and the salary was $400,000

I've never cleared 400k working clinically.
Wow.

I must be way dumber than the MBA who got that gig.

 

[thegenius]

Teamhealth is being compliant with Hospital C-Suite policies that are not in the interest of protecting their physicians. They just want to protect their contract.

also TH is cutting physician hours, during a pandemic.....???

I'm not surprised...some ER's are working at 1/4 volume for 2 months during state mandated shelter-in-place orders.

 

[GeneralVeers]

I've never cleared 400k working clinically.
Wow.

I must be way dumber than the MBA who got that gig.

Anyone who does clinical medicine is dumb. The real money is in admin, and other jobs which impede care.

 

[EctopicFetus]

See, I'm all for this except for one thing: With the amount of money that the CMGs siphon off of our paychecks, we deserve to be paid to show up, as volumes cannot be predicted with any reasonable accuracy. You want me in the department? Pay me. Yes. The whole shift. Not in the budget, you say? Fire an administrator.

If I recall correctly, you once posted that some CMG had a "director of diversity". Yep. THAT sounds
like a quarter million a year waiting to be freed up, if you ask any reasonable person.

Quarter of a million.. nah man.. 450k at a minimum. Takes a special skill set to do that job.

I agree we should get paid to work. Those guys are horrid. Anesthesia had half their folks furloughed and the other half getting 50% pay if they dont want to also furlough. Thats a sweet way of cutting your costs by 75%.

 

[EctopicFetus]

I've never cleared 400k working clinically.
Wow.

I must be way dumber than the MBA who got that gig.

Probably not an MBA. Just someone with a real interest in the gig.

 

[chocomorsel]

Oh, I'm not saying it would actually produce anything. It's more to provide a outlet for the Cassandra physician who feels the need to point out the myriad of faults around them and expend energy naysaying in the hopes of transforming the hospital and society around them in to an alternate Utopian universe where everyone is dispensed N95s with the morning paper (PAPR?) at their doorstep. Most docs have a pretty good intelligence IQ but a horrible emotional IQ and no built in "Danger Will Robinson...Danger!" when they place their job at risk like this guy. I'm all for trying to exercise positive change in the work place, but at the end of the day....Hey, I like my job. Why lose it if I don't have to? I'll save all my big and brave "F-U" moments to c-suite when my retirement accounts are full.

And you would do said job without proper PPE?
And hope and pray to make it to retirement?

 

[Money-Moniker]

Maybe the guy knew exactly what he was doing. What's better than quitting in response to being coerced to work without PPE? Getting fired to generate a cloud of well-deserved negative publicity against your employer and potential grounds for lawsuits.

 

[dantt]

Unfortunately not unique to TH, as volumes across the board have dropped, hours at my shop (non TH) have also been cut. That said, it is incredibly short sighted given the surge that is likely to happen in US metro areas, if not happened in some places already. We all know NYC and Seattle are bad, but now we've got hospital systems in New Orleans, Detroit, and Chicago getting overwhelmed as well.

Not clear why this is short sighted. You're not being let go. When the surge happens you'll be asked to come in.

 

[ShockIndex]

Maybe the guy knew exactly what he was doing. What's better than quitting in response to being coerced to work without PPE? Getting fired to generate a cloud of well-deserved negative publicity against your employer and potential grounds for lawsuits.

I don’t think that he was fired from TH. My understanding is that he lost his staff privileges at the hospital. So, what are the grounds for his lawsuit?

Also, now this guy must check that box about having his privileges revoked or being removed from a hospital staff on every licensing and credentialing application. That would make it not worth the hassle to me.

 

[RustedFox]

I'm not sure who said it first (wasn't me); but "unless we agitate, all is lost".

 

[ShockIndex]

I'm not sure who said it first (wasn't me); but "unless we agitate, all is lost".

Al Sharpton...you are quoting the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Unless you have some leverage over health insurance executives such as a teenager willing to falsely claim she was sexually assaulted at a TH Board Meeting, I don’t think that his tactics are going to work...

 

[RustedFox]

Al Sharpton...you are quoting the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Unless you have some leverage over health insurance executives such as a teenager willing to falsely claim she was sexually assaulted at a TH Board Meeting, I don’t think that his tactics are going to work...

Yeah, I wasn't going for that at all.
Thanks for dropping some knowledge on me.

We have to do something, though. Grab some national attention.
Yes, I know its hard; but I'm willing to try. This guy (doc in the article) tried. He did something.

 

[deuist]

Not clear why this is short sighted. You're not being let go. When the surge happens you'll be asked to come in.

Finally, someone on this board with some damn sense. No business is going to allow its employees to get paid when no customers are coming in. In several weeks, there will be a surge and we will make up all of our lost hours by having to stay late and pick up additional shifts.

 

[Old_Mil]

Finally, someone on this board with some damn sense. No business is going to allow its employees to get paid when no customers are coming in. In several weeks, there will be a surge and we will make up all of our lost hours by having to stay late and pick up additional shifts.

Only if you're in an RVU shop. The mindset behind the hourly gig is that you pay me to be there. When it's busy, I work hard and you pocket the excess RVU. When it's slow, the balance swings in my favor. This is why I never work RVU gigs. I'm selling my time.

 

[turkeyjerky]

I don’t think that he was fired from TH. My understanding is that he lost his staff privileges at the hospital. So, what are the grounds for his lawsuit?

Also, now this guy must check that box about having his privileges revoked or being removed from a hospital staff on every licensing and credentialing application. That would make it not worth the hassle to me.

Yup.

And that's why we won't be able to walk out when the hospitals out of PPE or the working situation becomes untenable (like having to personally choose which patient will get the last vent w/o any hospital backup. Hint--let the older or more disabled patient die--the economic damages will be less).

Because we, alone in this world, seemingly actually have a permanent record.

 

[bky3c]

I assume most of the rest of you received the same "Happy National Doctors' Day" email from TeamHealth that I received today. There was no small amount of eye-rolling on my part... I also can't help thinking that this may be just a way for them to get some free marketing material.

"In celebration of National Doctors' Day 2020, we want to let you know how much we appreciate your commitment to providing quality care to your patients every day.

We want to celebrate by hearing your personal story of why you became a physician!

Visit www.teamhealth.com/doctorsday to share your story today! And check out this video to hear some TeamHealth physicians share in their own words why they became a doctor."

 

[deuist]

You say,

This isn’t some typical “business” that’s just seeing fewer “customers”.

and then demand $1000 an hour for overtime. Now who's treating this like a business?