Eleanor Chavez
Recent lawsuits and complaints about health care employers retaliating against whistleblowers prompted me to sponsor legislation to protect health care employees who report improper patient care.
HB 514cs would encourage health care professionals to notify appropriate authorities if they suspect there is improper quality of patient care without fear of punishment from employers. This legislation would do for the health care field what the Whistleblower Act did for public employees, but unfortunately it remains in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where all indications are that it will not be heard during this legislative session.
I was recently provided with a copy of a recent lawsuit filed by a local doctor against two ranking doctors at UNM Hospital. This well-respected doctor witnessed numerous accounts of improper care and unlawful practices. She went through all the right procedures to prompt disciplinary action from the hospital, but instead the doctors she filed complaints against terminated her without cause.
This doctor was considered a public employee and could utilize the Whistleblower Act to get justice, but there needs to be legislation to put protections in place for privately employed medical professionals and health care employees.
Ethical responsibility is especially important in the medical field. People trust in health care workers to provide the best possible care. Health care employees should never fear that they could lose their jobs by doing the right thing by protecting innocent patients at the mercy of their doctors or other health care providers. If someone sees improper patient care and reports it, they would be protected under the Conscientious Health Care Employee Protection Act that this bill would enact.
It is essential that we provide all health care professionals and employees with the means to protect the public from dangerous, preventable activities. People deserve to be treated with dignity. This profession, more than others, should be conscientious of humanity.
My hope is that the Conscientious Health Care Employee Protection Act will still get a chance to become law during this session, but I will continue to push for this important legislation to become law, no matter the outcome of this session.
Chavez, a Democrat, represents District 13 in the N.M. House of Representatives.