After Health Care Worker Murder Union Pressures California Department Of Mental Health On Safety

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/Channels/Story.aspx?ID=1350048

1/20/2011

California’s Department of Mental Health has come into increased scrutiny since the murder of psychiatric technician Donna Gross in October at Napa State Hospital. Jesse Russell reports:

Donna Gross was allegedly killed on the job by a patient with a long history of violent crime. According to a January 1 article in the Los Angles Times 90-percent of those in state mental health facilities have committed a crime. During a rally outside of the Napa Facility on Wednesday Union of American Physicians and Dentists President Dr. Stuart Bussey said Gross’ murder wasn’t an isolated incident.

: There’s been hundreds of these incidents. Working at DMH is just as dangerous as working at a mine in Chile. In one hand you have workers who use dynamite in a controlled manner. There predictably using it in a controlled to make the mine. AT DMH you have to worry about the human dynamite that’s out there in the form of unpredictable, violent inmate felons.

The UAPD and other state unions have been putting pressure on the state government to make changes in the hospital system to not only better protect employees, but also the patients and visitors.

[old mark]

1. K&R-When I was a union steward in a state mental hospital here in PA,

I was told by a nursing supervisor that getting beaten by a patient "is part of the job" for psych aides...We had MANY instances of aides and nurses being permanently disabled by patients, and after many appeals ang grievances filed against the hospital, we got an order that in the event of such an attack, the first priority would be to check the patient to make certain he did not injure himself by punching or kicking the staff memeber...
In the event of permanent or long term disability, the hospital management made strong efforts to get the injured staff member to quit, thus freeing up that position so that someone else could be hired.

I participated in several lawsuits on behalf of injured staff, and we nearly always won, but the person suffered lifelong consequences; pain and limited abilities, so it was not much of a victory.
The starte kept all of this very quiet and ther was never any media coverage of these events.

I am hoping this might signal a change in attitude, but I know the situation here has become worse since that hospital has opened forensic (violent criminal) wards because other PA hospitals were closed by the state to save money.

mark