[domenad]

A service dog in a HOSPITAL? They can't keep phlebitis and staph under control right now! ADA is getting a bit nuts.

[trisham]

There must be more to this story.

[Gay State Conservative]

If this guy can prove that his doctor agrees with,or ordered,his refusal to work the schedule required by the hospital then I'll wager that the hospital loses.

Even if the hospital is "in the right",legally speaking,this case is bad news for them,public relations-wise.

[Condor51]

Hey David, is your brain injured too?

You 'worked' at a full fledged HOSPITAL. You know with SICK PEOPLE and where OPERATIONS are performed. That means NO DOGS, nimrod. So they HAD to move you to an 'out' building'.

Ocala Regional Medical Center

So sorry bud, you lose. Take your SS Disability money and stay home.

[cva66snipe]

Even with todays more modern phone systems you simply do not relocate the switchboard without a lot of cable rerouting. The calls into switchboards in smaller hospitals can be forwarded to a nurses station but that phone will not likely have all the options the switchboard console does. Five days a week and a quad? Possible but I would say his down time is considerable per year. Even with the best caution come issues like pressure sores etc requiring extended bed rest.

The dog IF it was actually a service dog {lot's of persons like to call their pets such} would be no problem even in a hospital. Like a poster said they bring dogs into visit. But the dog must be sociable toward people. I think seeing eye dogs are allowed as well and of course police K-9.

Could be somebody seeking a reason to sue. Unfortunately the poorly written ADA leaves many in the private business sector open for abuse. I wonder if he was unable to handle the switchboard and was moved to another job he didn't care that much about? A hospital switchboard can be very stressful especially under emergency situations as the operator becomes the emergency messenger and agency coordinator in many cases. Storms and power failures are worse because every alarm that is an alarm goes off.

IOW if a fire alarm goes off the operator will be dealing on the phone with the Fire Department, an alarm company, and on the radio with building maintenance, and others all at the same time passing info. With a good operator things go smooth with one not ready for it it's a nightmare.

Add to this the person is going to be doing patient info look ups, doctor pages, etc. In short I don't see how a quad could manage it unless it was a multi-operator switchboard. I've seen operators I worked with in a nursing home/retirement center try to deal with it. We were a single operator set up and it got pretty hectic. A night with the wrong operator on duty and I really had problems.

I think there's more to it that this also. He may have not been able to handle the job. It's a high stress job actually unless it's late at night.