The husband of a Ohio nurse who died in a car wreck after a 12-hour shift in March is suing the hospital for allegedly “working her to death.”
Beth Jasper passed away on March 16 after she fell asleep behind the wheel of her SUV and crashed following a night shift at The Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her husband, Jim Jasper, is now suing her employer, Mercy Health Group, for causing his late wife’s death. He is claiming that the stress of extra hours caused by under staffing resulted in his wife of 14 years’ accident.
Eric Deters is the family’s attorney and in the lawsuit he filed it claims that Beth Jasper’s supervisor, Mary Alliston, had “expressed concern to her superiors that Mrs. Jasper was being “worked to death.” Furthermore, the day following Beth Jasper’s passing a meeting was held in direction of the hospital among the nurses on staff. The hospital’s Director of Nursing, Kathy Smith, said she “was so sorry about the death of Beth” and “sorry that they had dropped the ball.”
On the day of her accident fellow nurses noted that Beth complained of being “really stressed” and that she said she “hadn’t eaten” during the entirety of her shift.
Jim Jasper spoke with WLWT and stated how difficult it had been on the couple’s two children ages 6 and 11. ‘It’s been rough on them, expecting mom to come home from work and she didn’t come home from work,” he said.
Beth Jasper joined the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at The Jewish Hospital in 2000 after she left another hospital run by Mercy Health Group. Her former place of employment had such a poor nurse-to-patient ratio according to her husband that it was no longer a safe working environment so Beth left. Shortly after joining The Jewish Hospital it was taken over by Mercy Health Group and Mr. Jasper argued that the staffing levels declined there as well.
Speaking in court last Thursday Mr. Jasper said, “They’re [nurses] passionate about their work. They don’t want to make a mistake, but when you’re working under those conditions, it’s going to happen.”
The Ohio Nursing Association believes that nursing shortages are becoming a serious issue:
“Shortages mean nurses are routinely stretched too thin because they are expected to work longer shifts and care for a larger number of patients. This path often leads to nurse fatigue and is a dangerous practice that compromises the safety of both the nurses and the patients they service.”
Mercy issued a short statement, “Our hearts go out to the family. We do not comment on pending litigation,” it read.
