An Ohio man whose wife died in a car accident earlier this year is suing the hospital where she was a nurse, claiming she was "worked to death," and that the hospital knew about it.
Jim Jasper's wife, Beth, was killed on March 16 while driving home after a 12-hour shift.
The wrongful death lawsuit, filed last week, alleges that from 2011 to the time of her death, Beth Jasper's unit at the Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati was "regularly understaffed," causing some nurses, including Jasper, to work through breaks and pick up additional shifts.
Additionally, Jasper was routinely called into work while off duty because she was one of the few nurses qualified to work the unit's dialysis machines, according to the suit.
"It needs to change. These nurses cannot be treated this way," Jim Jasper told CNN affiliate WCPO, referring to the conditions he says led to his wife's death. "They can't continue to work these nurses and expect them to pick up the slack because they don't want to staff the hospitals."
Staff shortages and overextended shifts for nurses are a nationwide issue, according to National Nurses United, the nation's largest union representing registered nurses, with nearly 185,000 members throughout the country. But wrongful death litigation stemming from staffing issues is unusual.
"Chronic understaffing is rampant throughout hospitals around the country," said Bonnie Castillo, the union's government relations director. "It is probably the single biggest issue facing nurses nowadays, and it's not only affecting nurses, but patient health as well."
