A registered nurse was fired from her job at Kaiser Permanente’s Roseville Medical Center after she shared her opinion about Stephon Clark, who was shot and killed by police after reportedly breaking into cars in his grandmother’s Sacramento neighborhood.
Activist Christina Arechiga told The Sacramento Bee she took screenshots of Facebook posts written by labor & delivery nurse Faith Linthicum (pictured left).
Linthicum allegedly wrote on her now-private Facebook account: “Yeah but he was running from the police jumping over fences and breaking in peoples houses… why run??!!! He deserved it for being stupid.”
Arechiga posted the screenshots on her Facebook page.
“How can we trust our lives, the lives of our black and brown babies to these people? Nurses are supposed to help people not be happy when people die.”
Arechiga also messaged Kaiser Permanente informing them they had a “racist nurse” on staff.
On Thursday the company responded saying Linthicum had been let go.
“Kaiser Permanente does not tolerate hate or discrimination and has a long history of embracing diversity and inclusion – it remains a place where we welcome everyone. We want to emphasize that the comments expressed by this employee, who is no longer with the organization, do not in any way reflect Kaiser Permanente’s views or actions.”
Most hospitals have policies regarding social media. Nurses and doctors are warned to be vigilant about what they share on social media on and off-duty.
A 2013 Gallup poll ranked nurses in the #1 spot for professionals who are fired for ethics violations on social media.
Additionally, nurses are warned to set privacy settings on Facebook so patients and their families can’t befriend them.
On Friday, Arechiga told The Bee that Linthicum messaged her privately on Facebook to say she hired an attorney to file a defamation lawsuit against Arechiga.
Arechiga became an activist in 2011 after her own brother, Ernest Duenez Jr., was shot 13 times and killed by police in Manteca, California.
Her family settled with the city for $2.2 million.
Arechiga also helped organize protests after Michael Brown was killed by Ferguson police.
