Hospital Will Not Hire Those Who Use Tobacco
 

Hospital Will Not Hire Those Who Use Tobacco ProductsPosted: Sep 21, 2011 5:35 PM CDT
Updated: Sep 28, 2011 9:24 AM CDT

Administrators at a hospital in Searcy say you can't light up and work for them. Effective October 1, the White County Medical Center will not hire people who smoke or use tobacco products. Current employees will be grandfathered in under the new policy.

This change is in an effort for all employees to adopt a more healthy lifestyle. Not only is tobacco products not allowed, but cafeteria menu items are also changing.

Brenda Engle, the Director of Health Works at WCMC says by doing this, they are hoping to address the two biggest issues, smoking, and obesity. "As a health care facility we believe this is the right thing for us to do for our employees"

She along with other administrators have been working to make the atmosphere around the hospital a healthier one. About 200 employees use tobacco.

"For me I'm allergic to smoke, and it bothers me when I'm near someone who smokes. I can't be around them. so it's going to be positive change for me. I know for some it will be negative but we're trying to embrace it and it's all for a healthy change for our hospital", says Cassandra Feltrop, Executive Director of the hospital Foundation.

The hospital already conducts random drug testing on their associates. After October 1, a nicotine screening will be added. So if a new hire uses tobacco in the privacy of their own home or is using a patch or gum to kick the habit and tests positively, Feltrop says they will lose their job. "They will be terminated. After that date, the policy states they will be terminated from the hospital. We will no longer hire smoking associates."

The cafeteria is being revamped too. Fresh, new, healthier food choices will be offered including a fruit bar. All in an effort to help their employees live a more healthier lifestyle.

Re: Hospital Will Not Hire Those Who Use Tobacco
 

smoking, drinking, and unhealthy eating habits are among the things that should be made socially unacceptable

Re: Hospital Will Not Hire Those Who Use Tobacco
 

I believe the Baylor Healthcare system (a large, reputable hospital/physician chain) here in the Dallas area adopted the same policy recently.

Being a health care worker myself, I support policies like this...

Re: Hospital Will Not Hire Those Who Use Tobacco
 

...which is why cities like Allen, Plano, and others here in the Dallas area have adopted no-smoking policies in restaurants and other entertainment venues. It's nice for a change...

Coming from a smoking environment growing up, it was something I never desired to do. But, I also don't look down upon one who does. So, we have to exercise caution when displaying our distaste for that kind of environment...

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Wow... these types of threads are always amazing to me.

I don't smoke.
I don't support smoking.
I think that the hospital has every right to deem their place of business as non smoking. Even the parking lot. It doesn't have to actually... it's illegal to smoke in hospitals in Arkansas. And they have every right to tell smokers that you get 15 minutes break every 2 hours... just like everybody else. No special breaks because you're a smoker.

But... come on...

Y'all are for people being fired because they smoke when they get home?
Y'all are for people being fired because they used a patch or gum to try and quit?

Will you be for it when they test for alcohol residual in blood? Probably so.

How about when they test for trans fats and fire you because you ate McDonalds on the way home yesterday?

How about when they run a test and fire you because you ate bacon for breakfast. This type of thing is precedent setting and it will come home to roost one day. They start the precedents with the "Yeah... I'm glad to see them get theirs" groups and then move your way.

It is said that the only way to ensure your freedoms is to fight for the freedoms of those you abhor the most. America has really lost any realization of what personal privacy is all about. And that, my friends, is what America is ALL about. So we've lost our sense of everything we've ever been about.

These things amaze me beyond belief.

Private corporations get the freedom to make those policies without the government preventing it. There's an aspect of that I can appreciate.

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One thing to consider is that there are smoking cessation programs available. I would lean more toward allowing one to complete such a program before termination. However, this is something the article doesn't mention and makes me wonder if it is indeed in place for all smoking employees. I would hope so...

Re: Hospital Will Not Hire Those Who Use Tobacco
 

The present employees are grandfathered in.

This affects new hires mostly.

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I agree that this is different than government intervention.

But should a private business be able to stipulate what you do in the privacy of your own home when your activities are not illegal and happen on your own time?

It is a tricky area. I don't like seeing this happen but, at the same time, I wouldn't like to see it cured by any sort of government intervention into private business either.

Someone needs to file suit against this company IMO. Money talks.

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you are on the slippery lope brother.

the only intity that can "allow" or "disallow" is the government.

Eitehr a private company can do this or we ceed power to the government to decide.

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I think it is they who are on the slippery slope. The slippery slope of allowing corporations to rule our personal lives when we are not on the job.

And government isn't the only solution. Government isn't a solution at all in my opinion.

This can, and should, be handled in the courts by a jury of our peers.

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I think if an employer can tell you want to do in your own home and on your own time... they should be paying you for those hours you're beholden to their will.

Corporate power at it's worst. I know the corporations already bought the government on this issue. But I'd march into the director's office and tell him that I'm an American and that I'm free to do what I wish on my own time. If he wants to command that I not smoke in my own home, on my private time, he can pay the God foresaken mortgage, and pay me by the hour as I watch TV and yet still beholden to his will. Then I'd tell him to take the job an shove it where his head is.

I believe in FREEDOM and LIBERTY... especially in my own home and on my own time.

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Soon corporations will start telling us what associations we can have. No gays. No singles. No children. No unions. No churches. No bingo halls (it's gambling).

Get real and wake up people! Corporate power needs to be kicked in the teeth before they expand their power another inch.

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Right now... they are coming for the smoker. If we stand by and let them... who's next?

Re: Hospital Will Not Hire Those Who Use Tobacco
 

I don't get the chance to say this very often so I am going to jump on the opportunity. :)

I agree with Aquilla's posts. :)

Re: Hospital Will Not Hire Those Who Use Tobacco
 

I think most of what you stated as an example of won't happen, except homosexuality. I'm surprised, for health reasons too, that's not being considered or even banned in the workplace. But, then again, STDs can be transmitted regardless of gender involvelemt. So, again, another example of a vicious circle...

Re: Hospital Will Not Hire Those Who Use Tobacco
 

hmm.... constitutional grounds for such?

Re: Hospital Will Not Hire Those Who Use Tobacco
 

I have the right to sleep with who I want to. I have the right to smoke if I choose to. I have the right to have a drink if I want to. I have the right to read what I want to. I have the right to associate with who I want to. I have the right to say what I want to. I have believe what I want to. I have the right to call God what I want to. And... I have the right to protest, resist, and petition the government if I so desire.

I am an American.

And so are all of YOU. All of these rights are yours too. Even GOD acknowledges these rights, because they are GOD GIVEN rights. Now, for those who believe in Jesus Christ... we use our liberty to glorify Christ with as much as is within us. But if another free individual chooses not to... that's their right. My Jesus may not be pleased, but He desires that they live and believe in accordance to their conscience. He'll do the judging. Sure, I can tell them what I think about their lifestyle and choices. But guess what... I'll die protecting their freedom to live as they choose. Because that very same freedom that allows them to live as they choose.... allows me and my family to live as we choose.

Freedom is holy... even if free men choose to live unholy.

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They have so quickly forgotten know what free men like us used to do to Kings and Popes haven't they???

If they push any further... I vote we do it again.

http://libcom.org/files/images/histo...revolution.jpg

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"corporate power is at its worst"

that is an interesting commnet. I suspect a coal minor living in a company town being paid in company script, living in company housing circa 1880 would beg to differ.


I suppose an Irish immagrent working in a sweatshop along with all of their underaged children being told to have more children to work in the sweatshop, being chained to the machines so they wouldnt walk off the job, circa 1900 would beg to differ.

I would like to see a comparison of Standard Oil before Teddy Roosevelt broke it up and Exxon. Exxon would be a poor relation. Shoot Standard Oil still hase 2 senators alive and kicking to this day.

We should consider the historic reality before making such comments.

There is room to improve things. there are areas where some corporations over step. those things should be dealt with. that does not however mean that we live in some dangerous liberty threatend period where corporations are trying to take over. That is a liberal myth created to scare people into accepting progressive politics.

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Digging, if we can find existing constitutional authority for a court to stop an action, then I am with you.

beyond that the answer is the employees should get together and make a stand.

government however is not the answer.

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I don't understand what you're asking.

The constitutional grounds for trial by a jury of ones peers is Article 3 Section 2.

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No the constitutional ground for a court to stop the business from this action.


this would not likely be a Jury trial.

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A government that represents the people is definitely the answer. And when it ceases to do so... the people should destroy it and form one that does.

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That would be fine too.

Are you saying that no one but the individuals affected have any recourse against corporations who overstep their bounds of intrusion into people's personal lives?

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Friend... it's the desire to control human beings and endenture them in their own homes that led to the atrocities you speak of. Sure, the specific offense of trying to control a free man who chooses to smoke is not as serious as many of the atrocities you mentioned... but the very spirit behind the notion is just as evil. Such abuses of power need to be kicked in the teeth quickly and without remorse.

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Our current government is a government of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations.

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if you are talking about a court of law the answer is yes.

you must have standing to bring suit. YOU cannot sue this company because you are not an employee, you are not a potential employee who smokes. etc.

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Exactly. On one side you have the corporations... on the other the communist nutcases.

Today... our government is ruled by the right and the left. The right and the left hands of evil.

Where are those who love REAL liberty?

And what were they thinking when they recognized corporate personhood??? With slavery... they saw people as property. With corporate personhood... they see property like it's people.

Re: Hospital Will Not Hire Those Who Use Tobacco
 

Aquila, you suggested that corporate power is at an all time high. That is a false notion. Corporations are far more limited today than at anytime in history.

is there a shift back taking place? there is certainly a strong and ugly move by powerful people to work within the current framework to buy the influence of government. WE need to work to stop that.

but your intial comment was simply, historically wrong.

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Any legal action against something like this will fail in our current climate. We need courts that are for the freedom of the individual... and it's slowly slipping away.

Re: Hospital Will Not Hire Those Who Use Tobacco
 

Where did I say corporate power as at an all time high?

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Okay, okay...I'll admit. The policy is a little extreme. I've read through enough comments since my initial response and find myself re-thinking what I was thinking. I'm not afraid to admit that.

I'm for freedom beyond measure without interference. So, with that being said, I would consider raising a smoker's insurance rates even higher than they may already be. After all, damaging one's body does cost more than not, correct? At least in the long-term it would.

In times like these, we need to keep people employed before sending them home or, better yet, sending their job(s) overseas...

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So do you think insurance companies should raise the rates on a man who choose to eat a Big Mac during his lunch break over a Mc Salad? Or what if he drinks soda (big reason for obesity in the US) over water? Why must a free man who is no danger to anyone be beholden or enslaved to any entity?

Where is this CONTROL spirit coming from??? You see it on the right... give private entities power to crush the one who doesn't behave like we think he should. On the left... give the government power to crush the one who doesn't behave like we think he should.

What about... just allowing individual freedom without penalty? What about supporting laws that ensure that free men are treated equally?

A smoker is a free man, a fellow American. A non-smoker is a free man, a fellow American. If ABC Corp. doesn't want them smoking on corporate property... so be it. But to control them on their own time and in their own homes is tyranny. Yes, there are more serious instances of tyranny down through history. But tyranny is tyranny.

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Americans need to get ANGRY and kick this kind of thing in the teeth while it's just a small issue. Sure, it's a tollerable, cute little lion cub. But if you allow it to live and it will have you for dinner one day. A lion is a lion. Kill it.

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Evidently, you're not in the health care industry earning a living. Evidently, you don't see the aspect of my rates being raised and healthcare level remaining the same, to pay in part for those who choose to damage themselves. I don't smoke. Never have and certainly don't intend on changing that.

We can get so caught up in freedom, freedom, freedom to the point we become selfish in the process. So, yes, raise the rates on those who choose to damage their bodies. I could benefit from it since I don't smoke myself, therefore allowing me to pay for my children's health care issues that are far more pressing than mine. I've had my fair share of seeing how health care is so one-sided but I'm tired of being the victim of other people's downright selfishness in having the choice to what they feel. I'm already a victim of the government needlessly taking tax dollars to pay for the single mother raising 4, 5, or 6 kids without a father in the picture. Or, if there is a father in the picture, he's driving a 50k dollar Escalade or Benz while I'm sitting back trying to pay for my daughter's health issues that are far more pressing than a welfare child whose mom or shack-up boyfriend take their mutual offspring to the doctor for a simple runny nose...

Re: Hospital Will Not Hire Those Who Use Tobacco
 

Nein! Nein! Nein!

Re: Hospital Will Not Hire Those Who Use Tobacco
 

I worked in a hospital for nearly 20 years.

I treated patients with respiratory illnesses. It is not a pretty site to watch people suffocate to death because of what tobacco has done to their lungs. You can see the panicked look in their eyes as they try to breathe in and out. I encountered many who would rather breathe than eat.

While we all want the freedom to do as we please, where is the line drawn to when one's right infringes upon another's right? Does another have the right to blow smoke in a nonsmoker's face? Must a nonsmoker breathe the smell of smoke on another's clothes after they finish their ciggie?

I've been on both sides of this barrel. I used to smoke when I was a teenager and young adult. It was the thing to do when I was growing up in the environment I lived in. A 2 1/2 pack a day smoker, my left lung collapsed at the age of 23 that I attributed to smoking. I did not know God then, but I begged Him to help me quit smoking, then my lung collapsed. It was spending 7 days hooked up to a vacuum that allowed me to quit this terrible habit. That was the best thing that happened to me because I do not believe that I would be living at my age right now had I continued to smoke.

We all want our freedoms, but many Americans have proven that they cannot handle freedom. It is abused all in of the physical sense, spiritual sense and moral sense.

We are going to lose all our freedoms because we as a nation handle our freedoms recklessly. We lost our pathways to God because of "good times" entertainment, television and the "me first" attitudes.

The only answer to the freedoms we are losing is for Christ's return to straighten the mess that man has made on this planet out.

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Much of this thread is a lesson is where the American mind is right now... and it is full out scary.

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Yep.

I do not smoke. I think it is gross and unhealthy. Do I have the right to tell others they can't smoke? Not unless they are in my home I don't.

It is sad that we so rarely value liberty nowadays. Smoling is not illegal. If one wishes to smoke in their own home, ti si their right to do so. Companies have no business IMO sticking their noses into employees private lives unless the activity is illegal.

Hopefull some smoking employees get together and sue this hospital into oblivion over descriminatory practices.