Emergency room nurse who committed suicide called US health care system her ‘abuser’ in scathing letter just months before her death
nypost.com
Tristin Kate Smith, a 28-year-old Ohio nurse, wrote a scathing letter to her “abuser” five months ahead of her August 2023 suicide.
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So…where’s the letter? Pretty telling when the NYPost bloviates about this and doesn’t actually link to the letter.
Edit: Here it is and it’s basically an indictment of capitalism - https://reader.mediawiremobile.com/TheOakwoodRegister/issues/208670/viewer?page=3
Here it is:
Ever since I was young. I expressed interest in healthcare and becoming a nurse, so I began my study I gave my heart, my body, and my mind to you My long days and hours dedicated and giving you my all. There were times that working in the emergency room were extremely difficult, but also extremely rewarding. I have cried with my patients, with their families, and for them. They have even been there for me, and emotionally supported me during my hard times. The hands of all the patients and families that I have held, hold mine with me everyday of my nursing career encouraging me and showing me why I do what I do. I thought that would be all I needed to be able to care for them, and I know I had told you I would be with you to the end.
Told you I would be there through the good and the bad but you have taken my heart and slowly crushed the goodness it had.
You love bombed me with affection, because I knew I was going into something that matters. You made me feel comfortable, despite the rumors of your abusive past that I didn't want to believe. The compliments, pizzas, and thank you letters began to slowly have less meaning. The staff I had to help began to go away. They were unnecessary, in your eyes but so necessary for the patients and nurses to provide what you advertise as "quality care". When I thought it couldn't get worse you proved me very wrong when you started gaslighting and manipulating us.
You go around asking my colleagues and I what we need to help patients and improve satisfaction scores but when we tell you the truth you instead send us online courses saying we need to smile more and be friendlier. I remember the first time I heard about nurses getting hit and how you asked them what they did to get hurt or didn't do to prevent someone else from hurting them. Remember, you cant try to protect yourself by fighting back just lay there with your hands over your head during the minutes it takes for security to come. You started blaming us for things out of our control. Started criminally charging my colleagues, for things that were from what you are doing. As you know, the law doesn't care for the Swiss Cheese Model." I no longer feel like you care about me or the people you say you serve. I sit at my front desk just waiting for someone to come in and shoot my patients and I, just because of your lack of care for our protection You haven't even given us metal detectors or proper security to promptly keep us safe. You are only using and exploiting us to line your pocket with the common citizen's money for overcharged healthcare You don't care about anyone because you have a narcissistic personality.
If you say you cared, why don't you listen while we beg on our hands and knees. You say that we do so much and that we put up with so much When we think we are finally going to get the love and support we deserve, we only walk in to get free pizza and pens for the "healthcare heroes". Truth is you only care about your personal greed.
I want so desperately to continue to help people, but I cannot stay in this abusive relationship. You have asked me to do more with less every day, beating me to the point that my body and mind feel like they are black, bruised, and bleeding out. I'm only sorry to my colleagues and patients, you deserve so much better.
But my abusive partner is relentless, and if I stay, I will only lose my sanity and possibly my life forever.
Thank you. That article is terrible. Fucking ads taking precedence over the damn news and I gave up trying to find the letter.
NY Post is a rag
Even with adblockers on and reading the article I either missed the letter or it was buried in a link.
Thanks for posting that here
thanks for sharing. you accidentally shared link containing Facebook trackers. Here's the clean link: https://reader.mediawiremobile.com/TheOakwoodRegister/issues/208670/viewer?page=1
Thank you. I just copied it from the article without realizing that. I’ll update. I appreciate you!
All you got out of that was "capitalism bad" ?
The fuck...
I'm in the medical field. Capitalism and quality healthcare are incompatible. Any capitalist country with good healthcare only has good healthcare because they keep capitalism out of it. It gets immediately worse when capitalism is reintroduced to the field. Look at the UK and Canada for reference. Not to mention, her suicide note explicitly says profit is the reason that her and her co-workers are suffering. Educate yourself on the issues or shut the fuck up
Our politicians are pushing hard for an American system in Canada, the provincial Conservative (Republican) governments are underfunding healthcare so they can turn around and say "See!? This is why we need a two tier system." it's bullshit.
Straight out of the republican handbook. I wish y'all the best
They're scamming you out of the right to take care of your own bodies. Get loud before it's too late.
But but but WiAtInG TiMeS! I cAn'T gEt InStAnT aPpOiNtMeNtS wItH SoCiAlIsM HeAlThCaRe!!
Oh, the first available appointment I can make in the current capitalist system is two weeks out? Teehee... Shhhh. I want to fight for the owners. Teehee 🤭
Two weeks? I've had to wait months for my primary doctor.
What else would you call it? She literally says that they put her in this terrible situation with no help so that they could squeeze a few extra dollars in profit. So, yeah… that’s her point.
“You are only using and exploiting us to line your pocket with the common citizen's money for overcharged healthcare. You don't care about anyone because you have a narcissistic personality.”
You do realize that capitalism isn't the only economic system that works people to the bone right? She's calling out the people who run the hospital. How you came to the conclusion that her suicide was an anti-capitalist cry is beyond me.
Did you not read the quote? She didn’t work under another system. She worked for a private healthcare provider and explicitly called out their profit motive. Don’t be ignorant.
Every corporate run health care institution is like this. Every corporate institution in America is like this. Time to get your head out of your ass.
I'm glad you said it, what a tone deaf summation.
What tone should I have used other than the deceased’s own?
“You are only using and exploiting us to line your pocket with the common citizen's money for overcharged healthcare. You don't care about anyone because you have a narcissistic personality.”
OP edited post with letter terrible article was lacking and tonal change, but hey keep pitchforking
Perhaps one that isnt so dismissive of the entire situation. Or at least doesn't package it in such a way as to make it easy to sweep under the rug.
You may not see it that way but many will, never reading this far. Be an ally, not a hindrance.
I didn’t edit my post. I put the letter in my original comment 5 minutes after posting so what OP did is irrelevant. The letter has been there for anyone to read since I posted my original comment.
No one is making anything easy to sweep under the rug. The root cause of her complaint, in her own words, is that the system that takes advantage for her for a profit is the one that led to her death.
You don’t have to be dishonest. Read what she said in her own words.