United Professionals article on workplace bullying

This is quite depressing. I've just read a blog post by a man who says he was not only bullied at work so badly that he developed PTSD but also retaliated against by his former employer when he told his former coworkers why he had to resign his job.

I was employed for 30 years as a respiratory therapist at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho. St. Alphonsus is a part of the Trinity Health care system headquartered in Novi, Michigan. In Jan. 2004, I became the target of a psychologically abusive co-worker, a workplace “bully” who tried to get me fired or force me to resign, apparently because she did not approve of my religious and political beliefs.

Her behavior consistently jeopardized patient care. By Dec, 2004 I was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a result of the bullying. I reported the bullying and the danger to patient care to management many times without any relevant or responsible response. I also reported the diagnosis of PTSD to management numerous times. Again nothing was done. This was true in spite of the fact that the diagnosis of PTSD was made by a St. Alphonsus professional as occuring on the job at St. Alphonsus!

Management repsonded to my reports by claiming that the PTSD injury was “petty,” or “self-generated.” The employee relations manager threatened to fire me for reporting the PTSD to him and also, with the department manager and a vice-president ordered me to not talk about the abuse and injury to my co-workers.

I don't call it "self generated" when a coworker endangers patients by refusing to communicate important information about cases. I call it criminal negligence. It makes me sad and angry to read about how common workplace bullying is. Why are people so awful to one another?

You can read about his experience in detail at his blog if you're interested.