The COVID-19 pandemic put immense stress on the U.S. health care system. Some of America’s largest cities,

such as New York, Chicago, and New Orleans, were hardest hit and faced a lack of supplies and personnel.

Kenia Barkai worked at Detroit Medical Center’s Sinai-

Grace Hospital as a nurse. She first mentioned to hospital management in February 2020 that there was a lack of staffing and protective equipment at the hospital, putting workers and patients at risk.²⁶¹ Barkai also told her boss that she was tasked with treating both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients. This meant she may inadvertently have spread the virus. Barkai’s complaints,

however, fell on deaf ears.²⁶²

Sinai-Grace saw a surge of COVID-19 patients in March 2020, leading to worsening conditions. Barkai continued her complaints, this time telling management she was going to report her work conditions to state regulators. A few days later, the 11-year veteran posted a seven-second video to Facebook. The video showed Barkai putting on gear and saying, “I have my gloves, my hair covering, my mask, my gown and I’m ready to rock and roll. I’m going in,” before treating a COVID-19 patient.

²⁶³ Barkai’s post was picked up by local Detroit news and broadcast. The hospital fired her a few days later, citing a violation of their social media policy.²⁶⁴

Barkai’s firing led Sinai-Grace nurses to organize a sit-in and motivated others to speak up. Physicians and nurses told news outlets horrifying stories of a hospital that looked like a “third world country in a war zone.”²⁶⁵

“We’ve had patients die in hallway beds because the nurse didn’t find they didn’t have a pulse until it was too late,” said one physician. “Each nurse has so many patients that by the time they come to check on their next one, there is a chance that patient may not have a pulse anymore.” Two ER workers said that another patient’s breathing tube disconnected from a ventilator and hospital staff were so busy that the patient died before anyone could reconnect it.²⁶⁶

A vindicated Barkai filed a whistleblower lawsuit against Sinai-Grace Hospital alleging the hospital retaliated against her for speaking up. “[The hospital] can’t retaliate against a nurse whose sole goal was to advise the authorities of inappropriate actions that were jeopardizing patient care,” said Jim Rasor, Barkai’s attorney.²⁶⁷

On the other hand, the hospital’s social media policy bans posts that interfere with work or “create potential harm to others,” such as patients and staff. Posts that release confidential information also are banned.²⁶⁸

Questions

Assume you were an administrator at Sinai-Grace Hospital when Barkai’s video went live. Would you have fired her?

1. No. Barkai did not reveal any confidential information in her video and stated her opinion about the hospital’s working conditions on her own personal Facebook feed. She should be reinstated and compensated for wrongful termination.

2. Yes. Barkai’s video caused additional harm to a hospital in the middle of a devastating pandemic. She should have followed protocol by placing a complaint with regulators instead of going public.

3. Invent other options.