No Black Nurses Lawsuit: Nurse Sues Hospital for Racism

Get over yourself...it is better that the care be given to someone that the parent want though they might be giving up the best nurse that baby sees or gets cared by...it is their loss...there are plenty of others you can give your excellent care to. You will not help the care improve by suing the hospital...it is very reflective on you...

If you are white and agree with the father then you really shouldn't comment. How can someone voice an opinion on racism and has never been on the oppressed side?

As a nurse it was completely wrong to enable such a person. I've had a number of my co-workers, we are all ICU RNS, comment on this issue. Some say that they would have reported this father after he flashed his tattoo as it is considered a threat. A report would be made to the cops and he would be escorted out. He could take his baby elsewhere. The hospitals response was completely in appropriate. It's one thing to discretely inform the nurse, it's another thing to post such a sign and accept his threatening behavior towards this nurse. The fact that she is suing says nothing on her part other than that is case is about principle. This nurse was one of tenure, is this how your employer treats you after so many years of faithful service!?? Would you not feel the same?! No person should ever feel demeaned or threatened at their place of employment, and in light of that fact, I hope she wins. She has the support of not only myself, but other nurses as well.

wow! what is this world coming to.

This man has a right to his racist mindset but the hospital has to stand up and support its employees. By barring the AA nurses from attending to the mans son the hospital is agreeing that racism is okay and that only whites are truly competent as nurses.Its like years ago when black cops and deputies couldn't arrest white people. We are in deep trouble as a society if we don't stand up and reject as wrong the assumption that race is the only determining factor regarding competency in the work place.

Sher: You are obviously a * racist in disguise. Well, not anymore anyways. What do you mean by get over yourself? In this day and age this nonsense is still being tolerated? This is not Mississippi 1955, where blacks have to bow down to white people and are deemed inferior as such. It is true that this useless man had a right to be racist towards others, but it is also true that the hospital had a duty to let the father of this little infant know that his behavior was unacceptable and would not be tolerated. By the hospital giving into this racist fool, they are telling him, and everyone else that this kind of blatant racism is okay. Lord, help us.

In Asia, they only care about the people who are successful. Mainly being professional, lots of investment, lots of money and living in a nice house. They don't care what tattos you have in your body as long as you are not successful you are "NOTHING"

Try being gay, we still have to hide what we say, do for the most part suck it up

It's so sad these same people are (black, white, whatever) are being cheered in stands in sports, fighting wars, helping people, preaching in pulpits and after all these years the same old mess. Believe me, when you're in need, you don't care what color helps. Ask the 911 victims and the unemployed and the homeless and abused people. People who are racist are very selfish and when they are old, anybody will do just to dress them or even given a drink of water. What I've seen is white people are the first ones to send their family to a nursing home or assisted living, because they can't deal with then and blacks are taking care of their elderly family members. What is that about?

The right to have sex with another man vs. the right to be black...hm. Shutup and stop changing the subject from this horrible event. You get no pity for your behavior.

Racist America , racist biggot , trailer park trash !

I am a racist and proud of it.No colored will take of my family in or out of a hospital.I am even more of a racist with greasers.There is no african americans.They are colored or they aren't.

White Separatist are a religious cult, their desires should none-the-less be respected as would that of any other religion.

White Separatist are a religious cult, their desires should none-the-less be respected as would that of any other religion.

If the parents don't want to have monkeys taking care of their baby, it is their right.

Racist [Ray-sist]
noun
1 A person who thinks that a half monkey with a 70 IQ, is not the same as a human with a 140 IQ.
2 A person who thinks that a gorilla with a mouth full of gold teeth is not cool.
3 A person who thinks that those without proper photo ID should not be allowed to vote.
4 A person who thinks that cannibalism is not cultural diversity.
This was considered a pejorative word and was often used as a blackmailing tool by subhuman species to obtain special privileges and perks.
Due to new research and enlightenment on the subject, is now considered a compliment, indicating a clear and logic mind free from the constrain of political correctness.
Webster New American Dictionary.

@bigdude You might want to pray that you or your family members never needs blood, an organ, or bone marrow transplant. What are you going to say. No coloreds. * * PEOPLE are everwhere I look, wow.

White extremists have nothing else going for them except the fact that they were born white. Obviously, they don't have any education, breeding or social graces and must push the supremacist button to maintain an equality standing amongst minority achievements. They've chosen their lot in life; years of hate and ignorance as opposed to a decent existance.

Don't hide behind your screen name. If your so proud post your name and profession.

Visit these nursing homes. Black nurse aides are taking care of white patients cause their children are to selfish to care for them. Why come Black nurses are not good enough to care for your child but when it comes to your ailing parents you dont give a * what color the nurse is. Soon as they get ill, whites throw them in a nursing home for black nurses to care for. You people are such hypocrites! They took care of your kids during slavery so whats the problem?

..do you know how stupid you sound ...you * ... its ''take care of my family'' at lease complete the * sentence..and then by proud smdh

really this is not your world....you may have thought that for so long and now you are losing a bit everyday...and now your are * oh well!..get used to it or leave it...

He should have taken his wife to an all white hospital,then he wouldn't have to worry about having an African American Nurse taking care of his child.

true that

all the all white hospitals were already sued and forced to hire black nurses, weren't they? wasn't that the whole point of civil rights?

anyway, he unfortunately has the right to say he doesn't want to associate with people on whatever basis he chooses, and as his child's guardian he has control over who his child interacts with as well, but the hospital has to treat him, that's also law, maybe the hospital looked at the situation and decided this was the simplest answer, it's not like they told her she couldn't work, they just kept her from working on this one kid, which would have created an incident.

Except for the fact that ALL white hospitals were dismantled during that whole civil rights thing

this is true ...A REAL HUMAN...being a parent you don't care about stuff like that yu just the best care for your child.....oh but these people don't understand that...

Big deal would it be discrimination if he thought his nurse was unintelligent or not concerned with his wife's care to request a new nurse? Hurry go call the NAACP somebody needs millions of dollars because her feelings were hurt

an..like i said"if his baby's heart stopped and that nurse was the only one there to help would the * be stupid enough to ask her to get someone else with the clock ticking and his baby's heart stopped .....i can tell he would be that stupid and kill his baby..and then what he sues the hospital....wtf

She need to sue the hospital because they had no right to engage and make matters worse. For those who said she need to suck it up to hell with them. had it been the other way around and the person was white and in her place people would be backing the white person up. This is not slavery and we do not take a back seat to no one.

it's not about taking a back seat or the hospital being racist, i think it's about avoiding a situation where he comes in, finds her working on his child and snaps out, punches her in the face and causes a huge incident, instead they said, you go work over here, we'll keep you away from someone who will obviously start problems with you. she's suing them for sparing her the trouble of dealing with someone who hates her just for the color of her skin. i'm white and i wish i didn't have to deal with racist people, i but i work with tons of racist hay-seeds that just make me roll my eyes when they say something so obviously wrong.

i have to agree with the above comment that she's just suing because she sees a chance to make some money. if they had told her to work on this kid and the father got in her face about it, she'd be suing them for forcing her to deal with a racist patient.

so, let me understand this correctly: A BLACK nurse is * because a white person expressed his desire not to have a BLACK person take care of his child? He could have attacked her,because he sounds like an idiot and could have been violent. Ironically... Most black businesses do not hire white people,and that isnt racism,most black colleges do not reach out to white students to help them with their quotas,and they claim that that isnt racism....but oh lordy, an idiot white supremist wants only white people helping his lil future Satan...and the Sistah is * ? But not just * ,she wants payment? Yep,the white * shoulda cold-cocked her right across her pie hole! In this case,he is stupid,and she is playing the race card...not uncommon these days! No one on either side worth siding with...The 'race card' gets played again. Surprised? Yeah,me neither.

beproud..you are so right....we do not take a back seat to NO ONE! either get along with us or get the * out sorry you people made it this way deal with it...

I feel the same way as the father.Yes I am racist an proud of it.If you aren't white you aren't right.I am the same with greasers more so with them.

Im Dutch..If they have no Dutch nurses it is only fear that i can sue them too.

awww poor wittle nurse got her feeewings hurt. Look this is a preference. I am sure this did not affect the "nurses" job whatsoever. The couple may have their personal reasons for te request but like it or not people are allowed to have an opinion and make requests. I dont like female gynecologists, or doctors I cant understand, rude receptionists and quite honestly when i was in labor with my now 8 year old daughter I had an "african-american" nurse assigned to me. SHE WAS SO * NASTY. Everything I said she made me feel stuipd or like I was being a wimp. After I had asked her to have m mother come back into the room and she called the nurses desk and said "could you send in her mom she needs her mommmy" really sarcastically I told her to get out of the room immediately and have a new nurse assigned. I do realize color or sex do not make you a terrible person it is just who you are regaurdless but when people have bad experiences they make associations and feel more comfortable making other choices in the future.

The worse care I ever recieved was at St Lukes in Milwaukee and you guessed it. Whish I made this demand and she wasnt even talked to about it becouse "she is a GOOD NURSE and would never do anything like that. And now becouse she did so little work there is no paper trail due to lack of her nursing skills. Id call the man "Father of the century" for looking out for his child. It seems that there is a problem with the training that they recieve becouse they always play the race card and the instructors are scared to give them a true grade!!!

WHAT A SHAME, EVEN THOUGH WE ALL KNOW THAT RACIST IS VERY MUCH IN ESXISTANCE IN THIS COUNTRY, IT STILL HURTS LIKE HELL WHEN YOU'RE FACED WITH IT. IT IS SO SAD THAT TODAY THAT THEIR'S SO MUCH HATRED FOR SKIN COLOR. I BET HE ALSO CLAIMS HE'S A CHRISTAIN AND LOVES ALL BIGOTS.

I am a black male 39, I do believe that the patient has a rite to whatever he wants. He is a customer he can have that and make that request . WOW customer service in the US is not what it use to be. Businesses don't value a customer any more they feel obligated

Agreed. And I think that you have a right to refuse white or other no-color nurses. They wouldn't sue, right? After all, discrimination is dead and if I don't like your color, I have a right to refuse to serve you just like you have a right to refuse to be served by me. Let freedom ring!

I'm a 36 year old white girl and believe the hospital was wrong in indulging in the man's request. It was not about customer service. It would have been a whole different story if the nurse had been rude or degrading but, according to the story she wasn't. The only reason the man had for not wanting the nurse was because of the color of her skin. The woman was the hospital's employee and therefore the hospital has a responsibility to her as well. I know some people says she is playing the race card and just trying to get money. If so...more power to her. It will make an impression on the hospital not to be so stupid in the future. This man's request was just racist and had nothing to do with good customer service.

This guy is sick an the hospital is a coward for not standing up for their black nurses
Bc it appears the hospital is racist also toward its very own black nurses and decided to side with the father. I'm so happy Tonya is taking action against the hospital and she should take it against the man too.
Some people think being IGNORANT Is Bliss!!
What a * A!!!

he should have found his own hospital of his choice.what a racist * its people like that that makes the rest of us white people look bad.

We stand with the hospital on this. Our son spent 108-days in a NICU in 1998. We are African Americans and he was the only AA-baby there most of the time. ( < 1% of population locally) He has also spent time in various PICU and regular pediatric wards as well. He is relatively healthy now despite his 15.5-week premature birth. (He actually saved another person's life last year!)

http://www.change.org/petitions/boy-scouts-of-america-award-my-son-the-national-medal-of-heroism-that-he-deserves#

We made "unreasonable demands" on a regular basis. Our primary demand was that every person treating our son be competent. I questioned them all on their education, training, and experience. Accept it or not, far too many Black college graduates have inferior educations. Perhaps this father (who is clearly a racist and therefore too stupid to be able to adequately articulate his feelings) was trying to express his concerns about the inequities in medical training between the races. Perhaps he's been following University of Michigan's diversity lawsuits -- one could conclude that the Black Michigan graduates are academically inferior to non-Black Michigan graduates if one were to analyze the data. I personally have several AA-friends who are doctors (including one on staff at Harvard University), but the only AA-doctor we consulted during our son's illness was Dr. Ben Carson from Johns Hopkins -- the world renowned brain surgeon. I support everyone having access to quality medical care, but when it came to OUR child, we demanded the best that our money and credit could afford. We didn't care about whose feelings got hurt.

The nurse needs to get over herself and stop taking it personally. She should try to work to management to develop solutions for future incidents, in my opinion. She should work with other Black professionals to ensure their skills and work practices are up to par with their peers.

(Bill for 108-days: More than one million dollars. Out of pocket cost: $750, which includes paying for the nurse they gave us for 10-hours per week for one year. We had great medical insurance, and I forced the HMO to pay for things they claimed were not covered.)

omg wow

I am AA and RN. You are the type of patient that knows so little of health care. I am quite certain the nurses and doctors were happy to see you d/c home. Talk about reverse discrimination--you fit the bill. Your basic lack of knowledge and negative attitude towards your own speaks volume. You are ignorant and a bully too.

If this is a private hospital, I believe that the father is in his rights to have a say in who cares for his child. If the hospital had any objection to his request, they could have refused and the father would have then had a choice to stay or to leave. That being said, the hospital was in the wrong for giving in to his request, and offending the non white nurses, who are as qualified if not more than the white nurses.

If white people request that black nurses not care for their children, please don't sue the hospital. We got to stop being so sensitive to racism; it exist get over it. We got to pray for our sisters and brothers, even the white brothers and sisters. This world is messed and we must pray for it and the racism in it. Girl, drop the case, smile at the white people and keep going because down the road, those same white people is going to be glad for a black person to come to their aid. Those white people don't know God.

I am a 68y/o black[african american] woman. I've had to deal with Racism all of my life.I can identify with what this nurse is feeling. I worked for the VA hospital for 33 years.But I say to anyone reading this comment,change has come. We as a race of black[african american] people can proudly say to the world [In the words of our president, Barack Obama] YES WE CAN.

Right on!

Racism has killed this country

I can't understand why that individual would request such a thing; before there were hospitals, there were African-American midwives for white households. They are the ones who raised their children when the white parents went out and continued to abuse and misuse the African-American. Despite the hateful and cruel abuse, African -American midwives continued to take care of their oppressors' young.

I believe that our nurses are there doing a job that others are not qualified for one reason or another. God gave them the ability to care and help all who are in need of care. The color of their skin should have no bearing on the quality of their care. God made everyone of us, not just the white. God bless every one of our nurses world wide.

Sad Commentary that black people are still having to deal with this crap. Its so stupid its like saying I wont eat chocolate cake, candy or any thing of color . We are all one people.
The black man, the Brown man, the red man , the yellow man, the white man what ever.
I don't know why I even say this. It will not make a bit of difference to the ignorant and backward thinking people. Tonya Take that hospital to the mat for tolerating and supporting racism in 2013

As a nurse, I totally get this and see it ALL the time. Here are the facts: the man is a racist.. Got it. Certainly not a belief for everyone but this country is full of people who have all different kinds of ideals and beliefs.. Ignorance is all around and does not just include racism. Moving on. The hospital is in the business of customer service. The hospital wants to appease patient's and their families. If the hospital had not appeased this man I'm sure he could have gone much further up the chain of command and made an even bigger stink about this and the hospital could have even been sued by him for not providing what was requested. Is it right? Probably not, but this is how it is. The hospital wants to please patients!

i think this whole racist crap is stupid 4 all u white folks out there GROWUP

AA and RN for over 30 years. I agree the man is racist. However, having witnessed such behavior so many times (we have learned to "suck it up") I can only surmise that Ms. Battle just finally got fed up with the whole thing and decided to sue the hospital not so much for money but to bring respect and integrity to the profession. The hospital action was inappropriate and racist.
I am reminded of the time while attending to a spanish speaking man in the ER. He had a friend with him and was talking badly about me to his friend. Suddenly the curtain was pulled back to expose the CEO of the hospital. She rebuked the man in spanish. Then she told me what the man said and remarked that nurses have complained about such behavior by hispanic patients. She heard it with her own ears that morning. "I never believed it was true". P.S. Florida hispanic patients have been known to request only spanish speaking nurses.Ummmm I took State Boards in English

For once I agree with a blood sucking lawyer. Even if the man is a racist and demands that only white nurses attend to his baby, it's the hospitals job not to "enable racial discrimination by giving in to them." The hospital was in the wrong. Battle might be seeking money and playing the race card but, the hospital deserves it for being so stupid. They should have never indulged in the man's prejudices. Hope she wins millions!

the hospital made a major mistake, should not have listened to the man. screwballs everywhere

would you rather a competent black nurse care for your child or a drug using white nurse? This story shows how ignorant racists are. I have served with white marines who would lay down their life for me, and I would for them. I have dealt with some that I wouldnt let watch my front yard to see if my grass was growing. I can say the same about black Marines. There are idiots and incompetent people in ever color. I feel sorry for the child who will no doubt be taught to hate.

She wasn't sent home from work, nor was she delegated a task that was unfitting given her job description. No compensatory damages, no violation of the Civil Rights Act.

I can only speculate that an overwhelming majority of her colleagues felt that the child's father was, to say the least, behaving poorly and it's proven that the requested restriction was for "black nurses". That being said, since the restriction wasn't personally directed at Battle, and a reasonable person wouldn't believe that she is unfit for her duties purely based on her skin tone, it's likely that her allegations of "humiliation" and a "damaged reputation" on part of the hospital are a product of her own mind and cannot be proven in fact.

Courts in Michigan are not as gratuitous with punitive damages these days, and because the hospital was abiding by the requests of a patient and that patients wishes regarding family and treatment for that family, it's unlikely that a court will be gratuitous with them in this case.

Being that Battle incurred no financial damages, no physical damages, no realistic damages to her reputation and wasn't treated disrespectfully by her employer when asked not to care for an infant per family request, it could be argued that her "mental anguish" is synonymous with "feeling insulted", and can only be ascribed to an unfortunate situation for all parties involved.

In short, she deserves a written apology in the form of a written apology, not thousands of dollars in ____ damages.

The unconscionable behavior was that of the swastika-toting redneck, and even such scum deserve a say in who takes care of their infants.

what the hell is wrong with this man ...thats like ..if the baby's heart had stopped and the only person there at the time is BLACK..you mean he would have asked them to get someone of a diffrent color..to save his bsby's life..how crazy is he...i know these people were *holes..poor baby we really got to pray!