Whistle Blower Nurse Fined by Her Own Professional Body

I have two questions for you:

If you see something wrong and this something is hurting or having a negative impact on people, is it not your duty to speak out about it?

Does it matter what your profession is if you do call it out?

The answer to the first question should be - in my opinion - yes, it is your duty. The answer to the second question seems to be a bit more complicated if you are a nurse and you live in Saskatchewan, Canada.

I remember reading about Carolyn Strom last year and I didn't think too much about the story because I figured that the story didn't have legs and that everything would work out. I was wrong.

Two years ago, Carolyn, an RN, wrote a post on her Facebook page about the quality of care her grandfather received in a long-term care facility, particularly at the end of his life when he was in palliative care. She criticized the care, but according to reports, she also offered solutions - being a nurse herself, she understood the issues associated with caring for patients in a long-term care environment. However, her professional body, the Saskatchewan Registered Nurses Association, charged her with professional misconduct and Carolyn was fined $26,000.

What is worrisome about this is that Carolyn was not acting as a nurse at the time, she was acting as a private citizen who was concerned about the lack of quality care not just for her grandfather, but other patients at this facility and similar ones. She was expressing her frustration and disappointment as anyone might. Except, she has an RN behind her name, which apparently means she's not allowed to express those thoughts.

According to the Globe and Mail, this is what Carolyn wrote:

“My grandfather spent a week in palliative care before he died and after hearing about his and my family’s experience there, it is evident that not everyone is ‘up to speed’ on how to approach end of life care or how to help maintain an aging senior’s dignity. 

“I challenge the people involved in decision making with that facility to please get all your staff a refresher on this topic and more. Don’t get me wrong, ‘some’ people have provided excellent care so I thank you so very much for your efforts, but to those who made Grandpa’s last years less than desirable, please do better next time.”

So, Carolyn was charge by the body's disciplinary committee with five breaches:

1- Not respecting patient confidentiality
2- Failure to follow proper channels in making a complaint
3- Making comments that have a negative impact on the reputation of staff and a facility
4- Failure to first obtain all the facts
5- Using her status of registered nurse for personal purposes

Here are my arguments:

1- When it is your family member, patient confidentiality doesn't work here. When my mother was dying last year, I could have written about it all I wanted as long as she had never expressly forbidden it. (This charge was dropped).

2- Should Carolyn have written a letter to the facility or gone higher? Yes, she should have. However, she could have done so and still posted on social media as a private citizen. Many of us have stories of letters of complaint we've written that were never addressed.

3- So, does this mean we can't bash United Airlines for the horrible video of a man being forcibly removed from his seat a few days ago? Because it would have a bad reputation on the staff and organization?

4- Can anyone ever obtain all the facts?

5- We all use our background, education, and "status" for personal purposes. It's who we are. Does this mean that I can never comment on anything health or medical related - because I'm a nurse? Why is her call out of her grandfather's care any different than a sibling who isn't a nurse might have been?

So, what is the message here? If you're a nurse and you see bad care, shut up. Don't tell anyone. Don't vent on social media. Don't criticize. If you do, you're guilty of professional misconduct.


You can read more about her story here on the CBC website.

And there is a GoFundMe page raising money to help Carolyn pay those ridiculous fines, if you feel so inclined to help her.