• 30
  • December
    2011

Doctors know full well the grueling hours required of the medical profession, especially when they are residents and just out of medical school. Some may say that this simply goes along with the territory, and that resident doctors should not complain about being sleep deprived because they knew what they were getting into.

But does this make it appropriate to subject doctors to harassment, pushing them to their limit and forcing them to work to the point of exhaustion? Doing so could lead to the possibility of making a medical mistake. Certainly from the patients' point of view it seems like a dangerous practice. How about the doctors' point of view?

Doctors should be protected from all forms of harassment in the workplace, including pressure to work to the point of exhaustion. Any doctor who has been placed in this position has been treated inappropriately by their employer.

Unfortunately, this was the case of a female doctor who has recently filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against her former employer. She claims that her employer forced her to work between 80 and 96 hours per week. She says that she never agreed to work this much, and even if she did these kind of hours are against the law.

After she was fired for complaining about her grueling work hours that left her sleep deprived, her former employer has since apparently been giving negative reviews of her performance to other prospective employers. The doctor claims it was done in an attempt to retaliate against her for her complaints.

This kind of employer behavior is wrong and it is illegal. Minnesota doctors certainly work hard, but they do not have to be subjected to these kinds of employment tactics. If you believe you have been harassed based on your work hours or have been wrongfully terminated for complaining about your hours, you should seek help to learn how you can protect your rights as an employee.

Source: New York Post, "Doc sues for lost sleep, being 'forced' to work up to 96 hours a week," Christina Carrega, Dec. 20, 2011