Prisoners are so lowly I won't even let them empty bedpans!

December 17, 2007 -- Today, The Boston Globe reported on controversy between two Republican candidates for the U.S. presidency. Mitt Romney issued a commercial that attacked Mike Huckabee for the many pardons he gave criminals while he was Governor of Arkansas from 1996-2007.

Many of the pardons were to help people who had served their sentences, often for relatively minor crimes, get jobs. "Background checks kept them from even so much as getting a job emptying the bedpans in a nursing home."

18 and a hot check, non-violent offense, they had never done a single day of prison time for it. It was a probated sentence or paid a fine, but it meant that even when they went to apply for a job to take out the bedpan at the nursing home, they couldn't get hired, bcause they had the conviction. So if you didn't give that person a pardon, they would be in essence unemployable, even in the most menial, entry-level jobs that we had in the community.

On Larry King Live we believe aired December 17, 2007, Huckabee explained further about this case:

There was a 17-year-old girl who wrote a hot check and now she's 35 and that hot check put on her record so that now, because of the background checks that are required for someone working in a n ursing home, she can't get a job emptying a bedpan.

December 18, 2007

Mike Huckabee
Huckabee for President
P.O. Box 2008
Little Rock, Arkansas 72203-2008

Dear Mr. Huckabee:

I am writing to object to a statement that you made in reference to Mitt Romney's recent commercial, which criticized you for giving a number of pardons to criminals while you were Governor of Arkansas. I am expressing concern about a follow up comment that you made to the Boston Globe: "[b]ackground checks kept [released prisoners] from even so much as getting a job emptying the bedpans in a nursing home."

I object to your implication that emptying bedpans is the lowest, least educated form of human labor on the planet. It is not. And portraying it as such is one factor that demeans the work of nurses and impedes our ability to get sufficient funding for nursing clinical practice, education and research. This dearth of funding drives the global nursing shortage.

When nurses empty bedpans, they evaluate vital systems in the patient's overall health. Nurses' assessments can diagnose intestinal bleeding, kidney, liver, pancreatic and gallbladder disease, parasitic, bacterial and viral infections, prolapses, fistulas, herniations, diabetes, dehydration, changes in mental acuity and mobility--just to name a few. Yet your comment portrayed bedpan emptying as a mindless task for uneducated servants. The problem is that the statement reflects a common stereotype that the public does not realize is inaccurate, and you give the public no reason to question the stereotype.

When nursing assistants instead of nurses are hired to empty bedpans, patients do not get the benefit of having professional nursing assessments when their bedpans are emptied. Patients who are not properly diagnosed in a timely way can quickly die, as is the case with most of the conditions mentioned above. Patients deserve to have their entire bodily functioning assessed by those who are educated to do so professionally.

Nurses and nursing work is constantly demeaned and undervalued by people in the media spotlight and in media depictions of nursing. When nursing is misunderstood, it is misportrayed and then undervalued. When it is undervalued, it is underfunded. And since the global nursing shortage is all about undervaluation and the dearth of funding directed at the nursing profession, it is important for society to learn more about what nurses do. And that starts with ending the stereotypes about nurses and their work.  

I urge you to work with us in ending public degradation of the nursing profession, because all of our lives depend on a stronger, more robust nursing profession. Please retract your statement on bedpans and apologize to nurses for demeaning their profession. Please also create a new message showing your support of nursing education, research and clinical practice. I will be happy to help you craft it. Please contact me and I will gladly discuss this with you. Thank you.

Yours truly,

Sandy Summers, RN, MSN, MPH
Executive Director
ssummers@truthaboutnursing.org
410-323-1100