Letter: Nurses fired for speaking out

Tuesday, July 31, 2001 | 9:25 a.m.

I have been a nurse in Las Vegas for over 30 years.

Recently it was reported in the media that four nurses refused to take report of their patients until they had enough nurses to safely care for their patients. This is as the state board of nurses has advised the nurses to do in these situations. Two of the nurses went to the media and reported their situation. In the next few days the two who went to the media were fired.

They were not fired because they refused the shift -- or all four of the nurses would have been fired. These two people were fired for exercising their freedom of speech.

This is the United States of America, where we have a Constitution that protects an individual's right to freedom of speech. If Sunrise feels they have the right to punish nurses for speaking out, I then wonder what else they are trying to hide.

They might be able to stop legislation that would have required hospitals from informing the public of its right to know vital statistics, but they cannot stop nurses from exercising our right to speak out. These two nurses were fired ... the price of freedom.

JACKIE JOHNSON