Mount Sinai Hospital disciplined three nurses who spoke to the media and to fellow staff about safety concerns following an attempted shooting in the hospital\u2019s emergency department last month \u2014 a consequence their union calls unlawful.<\/p>\n
The New York State Nurses Association alleges that Mount Sinai\u2019s decision to write up two nurses and suspend another the day after Thanksgiving for discussing the union\u2019s safety proposals with fellow nurses amounts to illegal retaliation at a time where the union is actively negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement ahead of a Dec. 31 strike deadline.<\/p>\n
The union is demanding Mount Sinai remove the disciplinary actions from the nurses\u2019 records; NYSNA intends to file formal complaints to the U.S. labor board as soon as this week, sources told THE CITY.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are members who weeks ago literally put themselves in the line of fire to protect their patients, and it is shameful that Mount Sinai would treat them this way,\u201d union president Nancy Hagans said in a statement.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Mount Sinai pointed THE CITY to a letter that CEO Brendan Carr sent to hospital staff on Nov. 18 where he said that \u201ccampus safety is an essential foundation upon which we build our organizational culture and trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in the process of expanding both our enhanced visitor management and weapons detection programs,\u201d wrote Carr. \u201cWe expect that cutting-edge weapons-detection technology implementation will be completed at our major campuses in 2026. We will not stop there; we are constantly testing and refining our systems and procedures to ensure they work, just as they did in this instance.\u201d<\/p>\n
The dispute dates to the evening of Nov. 13 when Elijah Brown, 20, reportedly stormed the Upper East Side hospital\u2019s emergency room entrance and threatened to shoot. After being escorted out by a guard, Brown was fatally shot in a standoff with police<\/a> on Madison Avenue after he aimed his gun at officers.<\/p>\n Brown was brought back to the emergency room \u2014 and treated by the same medical staff he\u2019d just threatened. He died of his injuries there.<\/p>\n No one on staff was hurt, but the three nurses used the opportunity to canvass fellow nurses about the union\u2019s safety proposals \u2014 including their demands Mount Sinai install weapons-detection technology in every entrance of the facility.<\/p>\n Some of those nurses, among them emergency department nurse Gueldye Beaubrun, also spoke to the media about the shooting and their safety demands.\u00a0<\/p>\n Beaubrun was informed by her supervisor that she had flouted hospital policy prohibiting on-the-job union activities in discussing union matters with fellow staff \u2014 even though she claims she was off the clock when she canvassed nurses on the union\u2019s safety proposals and other bargaining items. She noted the distinction is important because she was not caring for patients while performing union duties.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s union busting, what Mount Sinai is doing. They\u2019re trying to intimidate us so we are not organized,\u201d Beaubrun told THE CITY. \u201cThey are afraid that we will strike.\u201d<\/p>\n She and another nurse, Sophie Damas, were issued what they described to THE CITY as a \u201cfinal written warning\u201d the day after Thanksgiving. A third nurse, who the union declined to identify to THE CITY, was suspended, according to the union.\u00a0<\/p>\n Both Beaubrun and Damas said the hospital is attempting to \u201csilence\u201d them and that they will not be intimidated. The latest controversy has only strengthened Mount Sinai nurses\u2019 resolve as they push their demands, according to Damas.<\/p>\n \u201cThey feel betrayed, and some of them are more encouraged, and they are ready to basically strike,\u201d said Damas.\u00a0<\/p>\n NYSNA and Mount Sinai are locked in ongoing negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement covering approximately 4,300 nurses, and occupational safety has been a major sticking point of those talks. Nationally, health care workers experience the highest count<\/a> of non-fatal workplace violence of all private sector employees. In 2023, nurses at Mount Sinai and other private-sector hospital systems struck for three days<\/a> for better pay and staffing ratios.<\/p>\n Beauburn, who is also on the union\u2019s bargaining committee, was not working on the evening of the attempted shooting. But she said other nurses reported to her that the response was \u201cchaotic.\u201d For several minutes it was unclear whether the shooter was inside or outside the hospital, she said.<\/p>\n The entrance Brown used had a metal detector, and it may have saved lives, staff said, which is why they are pushing for weapons detection technology at every entrance.<\/p>\n After briefly ducking inside a hospital entry, Brown went back outside and left his gun on the sidewalk, according to police, before reentering.<\/p>\n Beaubrun said that the union would like to see greater urgency from hospital management. The union is organizing a gathering outside Mount Sinai Hospital Thursday evening to draw more attention to what they described as the \u201cunfair\u201d disciplinary actions.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a very close call,\u201d Beaubrun said of the shooting. \u201cFor years we have been warning that something like this could happen.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mount Sinai Hospital disciplined three nurses who spoke to the media and to fellow staff about safety concerns…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":425255,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[210,1141,1142,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-425254","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115664109352804114","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}