Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/1152911
L akesha spence is a low-income single mom in Balti- more, doing her best to take care of both her mother and her toddler son. But that didn't prevent Johns Hop- kins Hospital (JHH) from suing her multiple times for thousands of dollars that it claimed she owed them for medical bills related to the birth of her son and mental health treat- ment she sought years ago. This spring, Hopkins seized the last $152 Spence had in her bank account, leaving her no way to help make rent, pay for her mother's medication, or buy Pull-Ups for her son. "I didn't even know I owed money until I was sued. I was never told about charity care even though I qualified for it," said Spence at a July 20 rally of hundreds of Johns Hopkins nurses and health care workers, community residents and activists with the Coalition for a Humane Hopkins, and labor movement support from unions as well as leaders from the national AFL-CIO. They had gathered to protest Hopkins' long track record of bad behavior. "We demand that Hop- kins attorneys never put another patient through the turmoil they put my family through." Nurses and activists are demanding that Johns Hopkins immedi- ately cancel all medical debt lawsuits it has filed against low-income patients; cease the onerous practices of garnishing patients' wages; substantially increase the amount of charity care it provides for low- income patients who are unable to meet the high price of its hospital medical bills; and provide information about eligibility to all patients who may qualify for free or reduced medical care at Johns Hopkins facilities. A hospital in Memphis, Tenn., Methodist Le Bon- heur Healthcare, that was similarly suing low-income patients, announced under public scrutiny in July that it would stop this practice. Hopkins' ruthless practice of collecting money from and suing patients was just one example of how the giant institution has long bullied the Baltimore community while depriving the city of needed funds due to the tax breaks it receives under its nonprofit status. Besides pursuing patients, the hospital has also launched an aggres- sive union busting campaign against its nurses working to unionize with National Nurses Organizing Committee, and has for genera- tions been responsible for pushing out low-income black residents and gentrifying the neighborhoods near its facilities by gobbling up surrounding real estate. "When JHH found out about our organizing efforts, they have employed all sorts of union-busting tactics," said Meredith Zoltick, a Hopkins RN at the rally. "They are scared of the power that we as nurses have. With the union, nurses will have the collective voice to hold the hospital accountable to both its patients as well as its nurses." In June, Hopkins nurses won a major organizing victory when they reached a settlement with the hospital reaffirming the nurses' guaran- teed legal right to unionize. The National Labor Relations Board found merit to unfair labor practice charges that the hospital broke the law by creating the impression of surveillance and unlawful interrogation in regards to protected union activity; barring off-duty RNs access to break rooms, outside patient care areas, in connection with union A P R I L | M AY | J U N E 2 0 1 9 W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N A T I O N A L N U R S E 17 BALTIMORE