Aidan Carey

Journalism I

October 17, 2018

Vote No on 1!

Throughout the recent months, there has been a huge controversy on whether Nurses should be limited to a certain number of patients at a time. There has been a ballot regarding question 1: Should there be restrictions set to limit the number of patients per nurse? They feel as if they can’t give each patient the full attention and care they need, because they are always rushing around. But, there is a big negative side to this idea. Everyone should vote no on ballot question #1.
First of all, the idea is to limit 1-6 patients per nurse, depending on the seriousness and the pace of the part of the hospital you are in. If this law was ever set, it would have to be strictly followed and could not be broken. In the waiting rooms, patients will be told exactly how patient limiting would work and how to report any violations. There will be a phone number to call, or a website online where these complaints can be examined and be determined true or not. If the hospital is found guilty of a violation, the hospital could be fined up to $25,000. There is no doubt this could happen, because in parts of the hospital, like the emergency room, it’s all about running around patient to patient without break. The risk of being fined would also put the nurses salary at risk. It could lead to the preventing of raises.
Since every single hospital has to follow the Massachusetts law, this will cause community hospitals and other small hospitals to shut down. This law is going to cost a lot of money, hiring all new nurses. Some hospitals don’t have the money to cover a cost so high. The cost is expected to be close to a billion dollars. With the money split evenly and paid equally by each hospital, the small ones are lucky if they have the money to pay the fee. The larger and more well-known one’s are more fortunate because its a fraction of the money they make, compared to most of it. If the community hospitals manage to pay what they have to, they are still in risk of breaking the law. They are still in risk of being fined 25,000 dollars for law-breaking. That is why the community hospitals will shut down. They are going to make the smartest move, and not chance debt.
Imagine your in the emergency room, waiting in the waiting room. It’s a very busy day in the Emergency room, and there are a shortage of nurses. Since the nurses can only treat a limited amount of patients, it would cause people to be waited to be treated, until someone leaves and a spot is opened up. Is that really fair to you? You have to wait to be treated because every nurse has the maximum amount of people? Some visits in the ER are sometimes very long, depending on the seriousness of the injury or sickness. You could wait for hours. Now you tell me, are hospitals running smoothly the way they are now, or would you like to possibly wait long periods of time for a position to open up to be treated?
Vote no on ballot question #1. You can save the community hospitals from most likely shutting down, waiting times in the waiting rooms will stay much quicker than in the near future if the law is changed, and you can prevent raises from ever being stopped due to fines. Do the community good and help the nurses see the opposite side, help them see the damage they would be doing to themselves and the society.