The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is infamous for stacking charges on defendants and arresting individuals for seemingly minor possessions. However, when it comes to its own agents, there appears to be an endless level of leniency. In 2012, DEA carried out a raid on a home and arrested a group of young people who were smoking marijuana. One was Daniel Chong. Despite the minor violation, Chong was arrested and interrogated. He was told that he would be released but DEA agents simply forgot about him and left him in a cell for five days without food or water. At one point, as the 23-year-old cried and begged for help, someone with the DEA came in and turned off the light in his cell to leave him in the dark. He was given no food or water. Someone was charged, right? Someone was fired, right? No, the DEA has decided that a few reprimands and short suspensions is fine for starving and almost killing Chong.
I earlier wrote a column on how the U.S. government seems to be gradually adopting the legal standards of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. This case seem to fit that storyline all too neatly.
Even the Justice Department has questioned “the DEA’s failure to impose significant discipline on these employees.”
Chong was never charged with a crime and ultimately received a $4.1-million settlement.
The three DEA agents and supervisor responsible will continue to work for the government even though they almost killed Chong who was hospitalized for days after his ordeal. Four reprimands were issued and the supervisor was given a seven-day suspension. Case closed.
Source: LA Times
However there would be HIPAA prohibitions, but anyone who has a relative in a nursing home, I suggest that you look into staffing and come visit mom in the middle of the night, or day or afternoon. Report chronic understaffing issues if you see them, don’t ever take the word of administration that they are rectifying a situation, they will lie to you, as their bottom line is money, not the welfare of your loved one. These are for profit chains that warehouse the most frail of our society. Heads up to people with loved ones in LTCFs.
Yes DBQ, the same level of attention SHOULD be given to things that happen in nursing homes especially. There have been nursing home reform advocates who have testified in front of Congress as to nursing home abuse and neglect and the nursing home administration’s culture of hiding wrongdoing. I’ve been involved in nursing home reform associations for years. You have no idea the level of understaffing, shoddy hiring practices, lack of investigation and follow through of state regulations regarding putting abusive healthcare workers on the “registry”, the culture of intimidation of nurses who stand their ground and do the right thing. Body cams should be put on every healthcare worker, just like they should be on every cop. The facility that a family puts their loved ones in may be beautiful and clean, but the understaffing and shoddy employment practices are lurking there under that patina.
It’s a very rare incidence in which a nurse deliberately harms a patient, can we say the same for cops?
Yes. Yes we can say the same..
The media focus on the bad cops is what makes it ‘seem’ that they are the rule and not the exception. Should the media bring the same exruciating focus on the few bad nurses, people would be afraid to go to the hospital or doctor, when we know that those few cases are not the norm.
Plus when a cop has a lethal incident, either on purpose or by accident, it is generally a pretty spectacular event. In public, in the open, on the street. Becomes a 24/7 media circus.
When a nurse kills a patient, either on purpose or by accident, it is not spectacular and not blasted all over the television. Quitetly in a hospital room or at a home location. It is swept under the rug and dealt with outside of the public eye.
Just because ONE instance is more publicized and more spectacular doesn’t mean that it is more prevelant than the other.
And it’s the facilities that hide negligence or abuse because they don’t want the attention from the State. Most nurses do not cover each other’s negligence or abuse, RIGHTFULLY so.
Inga – so, if I have you correctly, and going back to yesterday, when you had your whistle blower case, that was you and all the other nurses on staff.
Nurses can and are sued directly, just like doctors, rightfully so. Nurses won’t generally hide each other’s “mistakes”, unlike the cop’s “mistakes”. The bad culture of nursing homes and hospitals falls on the shoulders of their administration, as with cops, that is similar. It’s a very rare incidence in which a nurse deliberately harms a patient, can we say the same for cops? There are good cops for certain, but these good cops need to step up and start policing each other.
@NickS and David
Thank you!!! I was pretty sure that you could use that information. Now, if nurse are killing 105,000 people on the low end of estimates, then one should be curious how many nurses get booted out of nursing each year for killing patients??? Not very many. Most nurses lose their licenses over drug and alcohol use. But, in total:
You see, nursing terminal malpractice, which is where they kill people by their mistakes, get covered up by hospitals, doctors, and other nurses. Quite often, nobody even knows that the patient died by mistake, sooo there isn’t even the need for a coverup.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
The doctors absent or not run the show, not the hired help.
How cute. You are very naive. I hope you understand that in any large organization, while there are administrators or people who think they are in charge, it is the staff, the underlings, the people who do the daily grunt work who are really in charge of the output of the product.
McDonald’s is owned by a large corporation who sets the agenda, like the doctor sets the agenda for his patient. However, the quality of the Egg McMuffin or freshness of the fries is dependent on how the staff decides to work. One location might be great with fresh food, clean premises, friendly staff…..another might have unclean conditions, stale oil and staff that is surly and will spit into your hamburger.
Hospitals are just exactly like McDonald’s. It is terrible when a person spits into your hamburger, it is lethal when the medical staff is neglectful, unclean and even vindictive. I’d rather take my chances with the Egg McMuffin, thanks.
Besides the bad docs, nurses, etc. there are the germs. It’s proven you are @ greater risk every day you remain in the hospital. And, we’re talking MERSA, not the common cold. I see entitled nurses not washing their hands. I had a dear friend w/ a baby daughter in the hospital. Grandma, a retired RN, would constantly have to remind nurses to wash their hands. The baby died after a second heart surgery from an infection. This was Lucile Packard, a top notch children’s hospital. Not washing your hands for a nurse, is akin to a cop beating a suspect up.
understatement
DBQ
So well said!
Great points, as usual. If you do not write for a living, you may have missed your calling.
While I have been fortunate enough to have never been hospitalized, myself, I have had more than my share of prolonged exposure to hospitals and the climate which appears to be prevalent in those places. Patients, without a strong advocate, by their side, is, for lack of a better term, screwed. To say that patients are often ignored is an understaement.
My point still stands. The doctors absent or not run the show, not the hired help.
While following this thread one would get the idea that the doctors are totally absent from the hospitals and the nurses are running the show from start to finish. That doesn’t seem likely.
Have you ever BEEN in the hospital? The doctor, if you are lucky, will see you maybe once a day….or more likely once during your stay and once when he releases you. Maybe not even then.
The rest of the time it is nurses of all levels, orderlies, housekeeping staff. I’ve been in the hospital several times in my life and most of the time it is basically benign neglect. Once the staff decided to have a loud gathering that sounded like a pizza party in process in the middle of the night. Laughing and even had some music going. Not fun when you are recovering from a serious infection from a hospital caught germ. The people in the wing were afraid to complain because THOSE people have you at their mercy and could easily retaliate.
In a small town hospital, you know the staff outside of work. In a big city hospital, they don’t know you, except as an annoyance, and you don’t know them. It would be easy in an overloaded case scenario for an unscrupulous nurse or orderly to be abusive and more than just benignly neglectful.
That being said, it is just plain stupidity to blame all cops or all nurses or all stockbrokers for the actions of a few bad apples. The orginal purpose of bringing up nurses was to show the hypocrisy of certain posters who continually blame the entire police establishment for the actions of a few. If that broad brush can be used to tar the police…..well…..why not go ahead and tar the nurses. What is good for the goose is good for the gander right?
But….no…..now we get the whining on how unfair it is to blame all nurses (or other occupations) because there are some psycho nurses out there.
Fair is fair. If you want to argue one side of the coin….police are out of control because a few instances….then we get to argue the other side.
John G, Absolutely! Docs are a profession that protects its own and need much better policing. Attorneys and teachers even more.
Last time I looked nurses follow orders from doctors and somehow the doctors have left out of this argument. While following this thread one would get the idea that the doctors are totally absent from the hospitals and the nurses are running the show from start to finish. That doesn’t seem likely.
Darren, Thanks for the substantive comment about the police bill of rights.
Squeeky w/ the knockout punch! A real, SUBSTANTIVE woman commenter.
Why can’t we reign in both?
I compared the stark difference to how both professions handle their employees. The comparison and stark difference is real. Nurses would not be given the leeway for wrongdoing that cops are. Bottom line. That was the point of the comparison, because the day before someone went out of their way to bring “killer nurses” into the conversation as a similarity to killer cops.
Inga – as you can see, killer nurses are a much bigger problem than killer cops.
fiver
What I quoted was your question. I answered it. You’re right; there is no comparison.
Wrong, you quoted Annie’s question. If you object you should bring it up to her.
So why would you bring it up? It’s absurd in this context.
Join reality. Annie brought nurses into the conversation.
Yet you piled on I. Annie as if she believed negligent nurses are a good thing and somehow relate to the the DEA agents who did this..
I see reading comprehension isn’t your strong suit. No one claimed she said negligence is good. But she did try to mitigate their culpability using irrelevant issues in a classic role switch based solely on who they are.
Not surprising here; you’re about the fifth guy I’ve seen take this tack
Maybe you should try to understand the conversation before leaping in.
Hmmm. Bad cops vs. Bad nurses???
Cops – 2013 — 332 deaths
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_killings_by_law_enforcement_officers_in_the_United_States,_2013
Nurses -2013 — 105,000-220,000 deaths
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/09/20/224507654/how-many-die-from-medical-mistakes-in-u-s-hospitals
To be fair, I only assigned 1/2 of the estimated preventable medical hospital deaths to nurses.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Squeeky, those are very interesting facts. Thanks for reporting them.