Detroit Nurse Speaks Out On Hospitals’ Poor Conditions, Fired; Files Lawsuit

A Detroit nurse filed a lawsuit against a hospital where she was formerly employed for firing her because she spoke out against staffing ratios and poor conditions.

The Detroit Free Press reported that according to the court papers filed on Monday, 38-year-old Kenisa Barkai claimed that Detroit Medical Center’s Sinai-Grace Hospital fired her for speaking out on the lack of staffing and protective equipment of the facility which had concerned her since the early last month.

When the hospital started treating COVID-19 patients, Barkai, who had been working as a nurse for the facility for 11 years, told the supervisors that she planned to report her concerns to the state or healthcare regulators.

In a New York Post report, this concern was heightened when Barkai cared for seven patients, including two COVID-19 positive individuals, and approached the hospital’s director of nursing on March 17 and said that treating both sets of patients would expose the non-COVID-19 patients to the coronavirus and therefore would potentially increase the hospital’s shortage of personal protective equipment.

Barkai posted a video of herself on Facebook later that day wearing the personal protective equipment she wore at the hospital.

The video was shown on a Detroit newscast that day and Barkai was fired nine days later due to a violation of the hospital’s social media policy, as was shown in the termination letter Barkai presented to the newspaper.

“We’re just trying to right what was wrong in regards to myself being basically terminated and basically used as a scapegoat to try to keep my coworkers quiet,” Barkai said. “We were already struggling to manage and when COVID came about, it just made it a lot more dangerous.”

The termination left Barkai, a single mother of a seven-year-old boy, without a health insurance for both herself and her son even though she found a new job with lesser hours.

In her lawsuit, it was said that the hospital’s actions violated Michigan’s Whistleblower Protection Act and thus, seeking a jury trial and at least $25,000 in damages.

Barkai’s attorney said that the incident just showed “how broken” conditions were at the hospital.

“[The hospital] can’t retaliate against a nurse whose sole goal was to advise the authorities of inappropriate actions that were jeopardizing patient care,” Rasor told the Detroit News late Tuesday. “They can’t fire her during the biggest pandemic for which her services were crucially needed.”

Governor Gretchen Whitmer also asked state health regulators to investigate reports of bodies stored in vacant rooms, the Detroit News reported.

Meanwhile, a Detroit Medical Center spokesperson said that the hospital does not comment on pending litigation.