Sanity is madness put to good use. – George Santayana
Anti Gay Nurse?
28Nov2011 Author: Mother Jones, RN
A VA nurse is being accused of an anti-gay tirade according to a news report. Esther Garatie, 28, a former Marine lance corporal, has filed complaints against the nurse practitioner, Lincy Pandithurai of Cedar Hill, with both the VA Medical Center and the Texas Board of Nursing.
I hope this really didn’t happen, but I guess anything is possible. It’s unacceptable if the nurse treated her patient in an unprofessional manner. Personally, I’ve never witnessed a nurse shoving their moral beliefs down a patient’s throat. My nursing colleagues usually act in a professional manner, even if they don’t approve of their lifestyle. I hope the Texas Board of Nursing jumps on this quickly and sorts things out. State nursing boards don’t take this stuff lightly. Here’s a link to Garatie’s statement about the alleged incident.
One Response to “Anti Gay Nurse?”
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Disclaimer
There has been a lot of chatter in the blogosphere about medical bloggers and HIPAA regulations so let me make this very clear: I write composite stories about many different people that I've cared for over the years.
Tammy Swofford
November 28th, 2011 at 10:52 am
The name of the nurse in question suggests that (possibly) she is a foreign-trained nurse, secured (possibly) for a lesser rate of pay in exchange for a work visa. I cannot imagine any registered nurse trained in the United States (my certification is Texas, my degree is from University Texas at Arlington) treating a client with any measurable level of disrespect. Our profession demands that care is rendered in a careful manner which affords dignity to all.
Hopefully, the current incident is an anomalous one, with responsibility to be borne on the shoulders of the nurse in question.
Having served in many brick and mortar health care facilities which provide care for our military I have been very proud to observe a very high standard of professionalism amonst the staff. Even when serving in the ICU in Guam, the monitors and equipment, levels of certification, etc. were equal to those of the civilian sector.
NNMC at Bethesda gives excellent care, and they work with NIH on various research projects. Having served there in G.I. Lab and also PACU, my hat is off to those nurses and the hospital corps community.
So may the whole thing be carefully sorted out and adjudicated properly.
LCDR Tammy Swofford, USNR, NC