The Nurse Unchained
One nurse’s unabashed opinion on all things nursing.

Several days ago, Sherry Bebitch-Jeffe was quoted in an AP release.  Her quote was in reference to the ongoing push and pull between the Whitman Campaign and the California Nurses Association (C.N.A.).  She posited the following,  “While it’s common for Republican candidates to attack public employee unions, she said the public generally has goodwill toward nurses and does not equate their union with “big labor.” She went on to state “I would not have singled out the nurses association, even if they were making fun of me”.   Of course this is the same Bebitch-Jeffe that was adamant that the recall of Gray Davis would fail, so sure was she of her prediction that she made a bet with me that this would be the outcome and the loser would buy the winner dinner.  I’m still waiting on her to make good on her debt.

As a nurse I admire Whitman for defending her campaign and herself from the C.N.A.’s baseless attacks.  Unlike the C.N.A. nurses Whitman has been the professional while C.N.A. nurses have acted like spoiled children throwing tantrums.  The “march on the Whitman’s private home in Atherton” being the most recent tantrum.  I’m all for the freedom to demonstrate but we also need to respect certain social boundaries and one of these boundaries has been an individuals’ home.  Of course this seems to mean nothing to members of the C.N.A.  If they wanted to demonstrate they could’ve chosen the Whitman campaign headquarters or event; instead they chose to disrupt the serenity of an entire community, violating not only Whitman’s peace and tranquility but also that of all her neighbors in her Atherton community.  One would think nurses who take an oath to advocate for some of our communities most vulnerable and fragile members would at least respect some personal boundaries, but not the C.N.A. they have now joined the ranks of such disreputable groups as the Phelps/Westboro Baptist Church and if you don’t know who these folks are just head over to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westboro_Baptist_Church).

I think Bebitch-Jeffe is dead wrong to think and publically state that Whitman should do nothing when groups try to bully her.  The C.N.A. threw the first salvo, long before Whitman was even the Republican candidate for Governor.  They did this not so much because of Whitman’s stance, but because their candidate of choice stands a very good chance of losing to Whitman in the General Election; which is why they tried to influence the Republican Primary in hopes that Poizner would win the nomination and failing that the C.N.A. has decided to pull out all the stops.  This strategy could very well back fire on the members of the C.N.A. because even though nurses are held in high regards by the public at large this is due mainly to the public’s vision that nurses behave in a more “ethical” behavior than many of us regular folks.  There are limits to what kind of “bad” behavior the public will tolerate even from nurses.  To date Whitman has appeared to have taken the high road, while the C.N.A. and many of its members have chosen to take the low road.