Why RaDonda Vaught Should Matter to Iowa’s Nurses

Iowa Nurses under fire from the public, the patients and the IBON.

In 2019 there an estimated 2.4 million registered nurses in the United States, 920,000 nursing assistants and 585,000 licensed practical nurses. Iowa has 50,629 active licensed registered nurses. Quite a workforce. The Lombardi Law Firm represents Iowa’s nurses before the Iowa Board of Nursing. If a complaint gets filed the IBON can open up an investigation and which may then lead to the filing of a complaint against the nurse. If a complaint is filed then the matter gets formal.

LOMBARDI LAW FIRM SUPPORTS IOWA’S NURSING COMMUNITY

I have only been representing nurses for about ten years. By nature, I am a personal injury lawyer. So how did I get into this area of the law? As a personal injury lawyer, I have known many nurses and interviewed them both informally and formally in a deposition. Many times, it occurred to me they were being made into a scapegoat for another medical professional who was either higher up the food chain or just better connected in the medical community. So, when a nurse was referred to me, I listened to her story and then decided to give it a go. Success breeds success. Sympathy leads to empathy. And now my firm will stick by our nurses, because if anything, Covid, the Coronavirus, has made their jobs harder and more critical.

IOWA PERSONAL INJURY FIRM GIVES SUPPORT TO NURSES IN POLK, DALLAS, WARREN, MADISON COUNTIES AND ACROSS IOWA FROM OUR OFFICE IN WEST DES MOINES, IOWA

Covid has led to labor shortages, understaffing challenges, working double shifts, corners being cut to make nursing homes profitable, exhaustion, working while sick, working while positive for Covid, mentally strained to the limit and emotionally exhausted. And trust me this is not an all-exclusive list of what is challenging the nursing environment today. One death after the next leads to nurses getting numb to the job. And yes, it is becoming a job.

IF YOU ARE CONTACTED BY THE IOWA BOARD OF NURSING INVESTIGATOR CONTACT A LAWYER BEFORE YOU AGREE TO BE INTEREVIEWED – THEY HAVE LIKELY ALREADY MADE-UP THEIR MIND TO CHARGE YOU, SO WHY MAKE IT EASY FOR THEM BY HELPING THEM PROVE THEIR CASE AGAINST YOU

Frankly, I think the nurses need to be unionized. I was for thirty-years a Republican, but after Trump was elected, I resigned from the Republican Party membership, registered as an Independent and finally became a Democrat. I do not want to turn this into a political discussion because this is not about politics. This is about work. Intolerable work conditions and risk. Nurses are constantly subjected to an environment where risks are constantly in force. As an example, you should become familiar with the case of RaDonda Vaught who on March 25, 2022 was convicted of two felonies for making a fatal medication mistake. Read “Why nurses are raging and quitting after the RaDonda Vaught verdict”, Brett Kelman and Hannah Norman, April 5, 2022, NPR.

See YouTube, Health Workers React to RaDonda Vaught Verdict.

COVID HAS PUT A TARGET ON THE NURSES’ BACKS

It’s as if the system has gone off the rails and anger fueled by the vaccination-antivaccers and the mask-no-mask nuts have overrun common sense with anyone, but nurses understanding the pressures they are under as nurses.

I don’t expect my involvement to soon end. I don’t expect common sense to suddenly wash ashore like the changing of the tides. I do have a sense of what is going on right down to the IBON folks not really having any room to see it from the nurse’s standpoint.

And if you think being a traveling nurse is the answer, think again. Being a traveling nurse is another can of worms that I will discuss in another blog.

Until then, be safe. And keep your head on a swivel.

The Lombardi Law Firm practices personal injury law and we represent nurses across the State of Iowa. If we can lend a hand to protect your rights, please give us a call in West Des Moines, Iowa.

The Lombardi Law Firm is a West Des Moines personal injury firm that is selective about which cases we take. We do not shoe every horse that comes in the barn. Nor do we advertise on buses or on TV. We are the peoples’ personal injury lawyers. We help people.