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This is a private hospital, no? As far as I am aware it isn't owned by the government. Isn't this the freedom for businesses that everyone is advocating? If they only want to hire non-smokers, then why shouldn't they be able decide not to hire non-smokers? They don't want to not hire overweight people, they don't want to hire smokers.
It is funny how people don't care about the rights of others, but sure are outspoken when their so called rights are violated, if you can even say anyone's rights ARE being violated here.
Last edited by DressageGirl; 01-19-2010 at 08:32 AM..
This is a private hospital, no? As far as I am aware it isn't owned by the government. Isn't this the freedom for businesses that everyone is advocating? If they only want to hire non-smokers, then why shouldn't they be able to non hire non-smokers? They don't want to not hire overweight people, they don't want to hire smokers.
It is funny how people don't care about the rights of others, but sure are outspoken when their so called rights are violated, if you can even say anyone's rights ARE being violated here.
Would you have a problem with a private company deciding they won't hire black people or mexicans since they represent a higher percentage of the criminal population in the country? Where does discrimination end? I guess it ends where you're not offended.
This isn't anything new, really. I worked at a hospital 10 years ago that did not hire smokers either. All new hires were required to sign a statement attesting to their non-smoking status. They did not do any blood tests to test for nicotine however. The policy was widely laughed at and didn't work. There was no way to enforce it, and there were still the usual groups of people standing outside smoking.
I agree, if they are going to single out smokers, they should add obese people to that list too. Eating a pack of oreos at lunch? You're fired! Dumb.
Instead of castigating certain groups, hospitals (and all employers) should provide incentives for employees to lose weight,quit smoking, adopt healthy lifestyles. Create employee assistance programs and support groups to aid them in quitting. Offer discounts on health clubs, provide nutritional counseling.
What's this hospital going to do to enforce current smoking employees from partaking?
Agreed. As a business promoting the health of the community, many hospitals have programs for weight loss and quitting smoking for their patients. Our hospital offers these same programs for the employees who ask for help. If they don't want to quit or change then you're not going to force them to quit or change. Our hospital even has a low cost gym membership for employees. Only reason why I don't have a membership to this gym is my work schedule compared to their operating hours. No other department in the hospital has such a horrible schedule like we do so all other employees can make the time to go to that gym. No excuse. But if someone doesn't want to quit smoking then they're not going to quit smoking.
Quote:
Originally Posted by whatyousay
This isn't anything new, really. I worked at a hospital 10 years ago that did not hire smokers either. All new hires were required to sign a statement attesting to their non-smoking status. They did not do any blood tests to test for nicotine however. The policy was widely laughed at and didn't work. There was no way to enforce it, and there were still the usual groups of people standing outside smoking.
I agree, if they are going to single out smokers, they should add obese people to that list too. Eating a pack of oreos at lunch? You're fired! Dumb.
Instead of castigating certain groups, hospitals (and all employers) should provide incentives for employees to lose weight,quit smoking, adopt healthy lifestyles. Create employee assistance programs and support groups to aid them in quitting. Offer discounts on health clubs, provide nutritional counseling.
What's this hospital going to do to enforce current smoking employees from partaking?
I've worked at a local major hospital for over ten years now. I can tell you from first hand experience that a great many doctors, nurses, respiratory therapist, and pharmacist all are chain smokers. Our hospital recently made all it's property (outdoors) smoke free. The smokers now go outside the hospital and across the street to smoke. What's amazing is our Plant Operations (boilers, generators, HVAC), Maintenance Dept, and Clinical Engineering (repairs medical devices) do not have any smokers at all. You'd think a bunch of mechanics would be the chain smokers. Nope. It's the medical staff that are the smokers. I'd like to see the hospital in the story enforce this ban on the cigar smoking doctors who do surgery in their operating rooms.
My husband said the EXACT same thing today when we were discussing this; he was EMT before he went in the military. He said many doctors, nurses, and emergency personnel were heavy smokers-comes with the stress of the work.
Is this the next step to making cigarettes illegal?
For those of you applauding this because you don't like cigarette smoke (and no I don't smoke)-do you think it will end here? What about when your employer tells you that you can't do something because it's "bad" for you and they'll be testing you for it-even though it's legal?
Uh smoking is one of the main causes of heart disease. It's preventable too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by denverkid
Actually, smoking saves us all a bundle. If you get lung cancer you almost certainly die - quickly and cheaply. Heart disease - now that's expensive. Most people survive a couple rounds at $100,000+ each time. If half the people who died of heart disease each year instead croaked from smoking, we'd all have some extra money in our pockets.
It would be irresponsible for a hospital to heavily regulate behavior. In a free market society, another hospital would gladly pick up a smoking doctor if this one doesn't want to hire them. It's only when government steps in and forces all hospitals to either allow or disallow this behavior we have a problem.
Many businesses are refusing to hire smokers or obese people because they are more likely to have health issues. If an employee is seriously sick that will increase the cost of their company health insurance. It kinda makes sense that hospitals of all places would ban smoking since it clearly is a destructive habit to not only those who smoke, but to those around them. Would an employer tolerate an employee who drinks on the job too? Both are addictive drugs.
Smokers smell bad. I have never met a smoker who didn't reek.
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Don't get me wrong, I agree with you 100%, but this is a liberal viewpoint.
It's preventable too.
