Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.
Around the country, concerns of a nurses’ PPE shortage have made news headlines. Highlighting the gravity of this shortage, a nurse who was an advocate for ensuring nurses had sufficient personal protective equipment may have passed away from COVID-19. The news was announced by National Nurses United, which held a candlelight vigil in her honor.
Celia YB had worked at Kansas City, Missouri’s Research Medical Center for forty years before her death. The Research Medical Center is reportedly owned by HCA, the nation’s largest hospital system. Allegedly, she contracted the coronavirus while caring for a patient who had the disease. She then passed away just days before her scheduled retirement, according to The Hill.
Before her death, Celia had been an advocate for nurses at the medical center, saying that the employees needed more personal protective equipment (PPE) like gloves and masks to do their job safely. Celia reportedly worried that the center was not sufficiently prepared for the coronavirus. Other nurses shared her concern, says The Hill.
Celia was a member of National Nurses United, a union who has reportedly launched allegations of its own against HCA, saying the center did not provide enough personal protective equipment to properly protect Cella during the course of her work with infected patients.
According to the union, HCA has been insufficient in its response to the coronavirus in multiple facilities. Protests at 16 locations were organized to express this view. The protests reportedly incorporated social distancing and shift changes.
HCA itself has responded to the union’s claims. In the hospital chain’s view, “the union is seeking to exploit Celia’s death as an opportunity to criticize the hospital for a global PPE shortage,” cites The Hill. The hospital chain argued that regarding a nurses’ PPE shortage, “the challenges the pandemic has created for all hospitals are well understood.”
Despite the challenges, HCA says that the company has succeeded in following PPE recommendations set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and infectious disease experts. The chain went on in a statement to emphasize its commitment to protecting its staff and providing access to personal protective equipment.”
In the National Nurses United press release regarding Celia’s death, the union explained that nurses like Celia were concerned over not just the nurses’ PPE shortage at Research Medical Center, but stated that nurses were not notified soon enough if they were exposed to a patient who may have had COVID-19. Additionally, nurses at the center were expected to come to work even if they had been exposed to COVID-19, reports the union.
TIME Magazine reported on the doctors’ and nurses’ PPE shortage in a recent article. According to TIME, doctors started a grassroots organization that took an online survey of medical professionals’ access to PPE. Unfortunately, information gained from the respondents was grim.
According to TIME, facilities of all types reported that they would run out of PPE within a couple of weeks, and nearly all respondents reported that they were completely out of at least one kind of PPE.
The survey investigated supplies of equipment of N95 masks, surgical masks, booties, gloves, gowns, hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, and thermometers. Staff at hospitals around the country made requests for supplies, as did home health aid workers, hospice workers, as well as ambulance workers, and staff at correctional facilities also made requests, among others.
Though the group could not provide PPE to those who requested it, they tried to triage and prioritize those in greatest need for the equipment.
According to TIME, medical staff employed by some facilities faced threats including possible job loss for criticizing the lack of PPE, and for sharing that information with the public. They faced a choice of working without adequate equipment or possibly losing their job in an already unstable time.
Join a Free Coronavirus Essential Employees PPE Lawsuit Investigation
Essential workers in California who have not been provided PPE by their employers may qualify to join a free coronavirus work safety class action lawsuit investigation.
ATTORNEY ADVERTISING
Top Class Actions is a Proud Member of the American Bar Association
LEGAL INFORMATION IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE
Top Class Actions Legal Statement
©2008 – 2024 Top Class Actions® LLC
Various Trademarks held by their respective owners
This website is not intended for viewing or usage by European Union citizens.
