How Hospitals Truly Vew Us
By now you have probably heard of the story of the P.A. in NYC who got into a kerfuffle over her rental bike. After work on May 12, Sarah Jane Comrie, “a physician assistant at New York City Health + Hospitals/Bellevue” finished her shift and went outside to a rental bike station, expecting to ride home for an uneventful evening. She was accosted by a group of males who said the bike was theirs’ – Comrie disputed that, and controversy ensued. Was she being a jerk? Was she in the right? The original video was taken down by the bystander/owner, but it’s still here along with some one-sided ”reporting.” There are issues over whether the pregnant P.A. felt physically threatened, or was handling a situation badly. Multiple news sources have reported that her attorney has provided receipts showing that she had paid via app for the rental bike. When that is either confirmed or disproven, that should be the end of it. But the aspect of race has been inserted into the mess, and unless a serious deus ex machina gets ginned up, this health care worker has been called some seriously slanderous stuff after the fact, by people who were not there.
But that’s not why we are here today, you and I. We are here for the medical side of things, and there is one. Comrie’s employer, excuse me, EMPLOYER released the following statement on May 16: “We are aware of the video involving a health care provider off duty and away from the hospital campus. The incident in the video is disturbing. The provider is currently out on leave and will remain on leave pending review. As a health system, we are committed to providing an environment for our patients and staff that is free from discrimination of any kind.”
“Off duty and away from the hospital campus.” So how was this ANY of the hospital’s business?
“We are committed to providing an environment … free from discrimination…” On what grounds does her EMPLOYER, not present at an off-campus location where she was not deliberately representing the hospital, make such a horrible inference?
You want “authentic” John/Jane/They Public? The truth is that health care workers are not viewed as special the moment the surgery is a success, the baby stops crying, or the virus panic is over. Take your pick, Big Hospital, Big Government, Big Insurance, or the public that empowered them all, but this is a nasty industry that consumes nurses, doctors, and PA’s like the commodities they are, and throws them on the scrap heap out back even as they smile and welcome you into the next overpriced architectural nightmare of a new lobby, beaming all about compassion, care, and inclusivity-something-something. Think I’ve got it wrong? Look back less than two years ago at the hospital systems and their contemptible rat-medical officers willing to ignore basic medical science and wreck the lives of those who had worked all through the worst of COVID, just because they refused a shot they didn’t need.
I hope Comrie sues Bellevue for so much she never has to work for any scumbags like them ever again.
Ambrose Bierce:
Physician — One upon whom we set our hopes when ill and our dogs when well
I think everybody’s forgetting a lot of basic issues. The lady may have been exhausted after a hard shift. Whether or not she was right or wrong and whether or not she made wrong decisions. No one’s taking into account that you have a pregnant female alone after a long shift. Everyone else seems to get a free pass these days except…
Second, the leave could be good or bad. If she’s being paid while on leave then it’s good. They’re letting the situation calm down and she’s actually getting paid to be off. If she’s on unpaid leave before they decide to fire her then it’s bad.
I recall a time 40 years ago when a surgical resident tried getting an emergency lab for 2 hours and fail. He went to the lab and the tech was asleep and refused to do the emergency lab. He locked him in the room. The lab workers union demanded the surgery department do something. They gave him a week leave which satisfied the union. They did not realize that a week leave for a surgical resident who is on salary is a vacation and a reward rather than a punishment.
I believe that that woman was absolutely in the wrong, she was whiny, she was weaponizing her race and her gender, mostly her gender. I strongly suspect I would dislike that woman on first site and every site thereafter. However, I would defend her right to be an idiot. There was nothing actionable from a workplace environment point of you as this was not done at work. I guarantee you she has a ton of other incidents that they could fire her over – this would not be an isolated incident. But I did enjoy the pop-up ad for the bras that came on, probably the most enjoyable part of that video, thank you.
I’m sorry, Pat, but not being in New York, I think you’ve mis-spun this.
First of all, the NYC HHC is not just any old huge hospital system. It is an arm of the NYC government and subject more to NYC politics and political corruption than to any concept of “profit.”
Second, this is 99% about race, and only 1% about the hospital’s treatment of its employees (who are unionized, and who WILL strike if the HHC gets too far out of line. For the record, I approve strongly of this).
If this PA had been black (Oops, sorry, the NY Times requires me to write “Black”) instead of white (and never, NEVER write “White”), there would have been no comment of any kind.
If the PA had been black and the others had been white, the HHC, the City Council, the mayor, and Al Sharpton would have condemned the others and called for their arrest.
NYC has had serious race issues for decades, and, very briefly, it almost seemed like it might be getting better, but lately it’s been worse, especially after the badly misrepresented attack on the white lady who ran her dog off-leash (which everyone does) when confronted by the creepy black guy, and the recent death of the violent homeless guy (who happened to be black) at the hands of the Marine / surfer who was protecting his fellow passengers on the subway.
This isn’t going to just go away, as it’s being fueled by a whole lot of attention-seekers and politicians, and, as you may know, more and more middle-class people are leaving the city because it’s just not tenable to live there under constant threat of crap like this.
Thanks Lance, the on-the-ground insights are always the best. I agree with every word you wrote, but even if the hospital is a 100% government arm, they had no call or cause to be involved … but for the ethnic strife that clearly so many have a vested interest in keeping inflamed. That is the AM angle I saw.