Two Jacksonville Nurses have been fired after inappropriate images were released showing the mishandling of a newborn. They uploaded a video on Snapchat where one nurse is holding the baby up by his arms and mimicking the dances to 50 Cent's song "In The Club." Following that video, a photo released showing the nurse holding her middle finger up to the newborn's body with the caption "How I currently feel about these mini Satans.”
The outrage
This became public as the result of a Facebook user, Denisa Shellito, who claims to have gone to high school with one of the nurses.
Shellito was very distraught over the images and released the pictures and the video to bring light to this issue and seek justice for the newborn and his family. "I'm just sharing someone's post in hopes that these childish girls get reprimanded and lose their jobs," Shellito stated.
Though this is not physical abuse like other cases, more than hundreds of thousands of people liked and shared the post on Facebook as well as on other platforms to bring justice to this family. The staff members have been identified as Allyson Thompson and Joanie Barrett, two Navy corpsmen.
The Aftermath
As a result, the staff members have been fired and are not allowed to handle patients. The Naval Hospital is going to take legal action and military justice discipline against them.
The parents of the infant have been notified of this.
The hospital has released a statement sharing their apologies and their disdain for these two workers. "It's outrageous, unacceptable, incredibly unprofessional, and cannot be tolerated." The hospital stated on their Facebook page.
The Military Approach
Navy Surgeon General, Vice Adm.
Forrest Faison, sent a message to the Navy Medicine commanders worldwide after the incident. In this message, he highlighted the changes he wanted to be made to the practice of military medicine and the standard all Navy practitioners should have. There is now a prohibited rule against phones in patient care areas, and all photos of the victim are to be removed.
"As health care professionals, we are entrusted with the lives and well-being of all those who have volunteered to defend our freedom, including their families," Faison wrote in an official statement. "We owe them the best care and compassion our nation can offer. We also owe them our unqualified respect," Faison continued.
Although this incident comes at a time where America is dealing with racially insensitive events more frequently, the hospital and General Faison's response are necessary responses for The Outrage.
