Nursing home operator wants probe after union workers stage walkout, alleged sabotage
The owner of several Connecticut nursing homes is calling for a criminal probe after union workers staged a mass walkout earlier this month, allegedly vandalizing and sabotaging the health care facilities in the process. Among the allegations is that the workers, supposedly disgruntled over protracted labor talks, switched around the IDs of Alzheimer's patients.
The alleged sabotage, which also purportedly included tampering with medication records and removing patient identification bands, occurred in three of the company’s five Connecticut facilities in the overnight hours before the July 3 strike, according to police reports and the complaint HealthBridge Management filed Thursday with the Chief State's Attorney office.
Company officials suspect the acts were committed by some of the employees who went on strike. Those employees are represented by a chapter of the Service Employees International Union, the largest healthcare union in North America with roughly 1.1 million members.
“It’s especially heinous to do it to somebody with Alzheimer’s,” said a HealthBridge spokesman, adding that dietary information also was compromised. He said the acts put patients' lives at risk and if somebody had a medical emergency in that window "they could have been in grave peril."
In the formal complaint, company executives also point out similar incidents reportedly occurred in 2001 at several nursing homes involved in labor negotiations with the chapter, New England Heath Care Employees Union District 1199.
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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/07/21/firm-wants-criminal-probe-on-allegations-seiu-backed-employees-sabotaged/#ixzz21HhGJXx1
