[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 108 (Thursday, September 14, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1480]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     INTRODUCTION OF H.R. 5179, THE REGISTERED NURSES AND PATIENTS 
                             PROTECTION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 14, 2000

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, today, with our colleague, the Gentleman 
from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), I am introducing legislation that 
would restrict the ability of hospitals and other medical facilities to 
require registered nurses to work mandatory overtime hours as a normal 
course of business. Increasingly, employers, particularly in the health 
care field, are requiring employees to work overtime. Our legislation 
is H.R. 5179, the Registered Nurses and Patients Protection Act.
  The Fair Labor Standards Act grants nurses the right to receive 
overtime compensation even though they are licensed professionals, but 
it does not limit the amount of overtime that nurses can work nor does 
it permit them to refuse mandatory overtime. In this era of full 
employment, it is simply easier and cheaper for hospital administrators 
to require existing employees to work overtime than it is for them to 
recruit and train new employees.
  Mr. Speaker, no employer should be allowed to force an employee to 
work overtime or face termination unless there is an emergency 
situation that requires immediate emergency action. In the health care 
field, however, we are not just talking about an employee's right to 
refuse overtime work. We are also talking about patient safety. When 
nurses are forced to put in long overtime hours on a regular basis 
against their better judgment, it puts patients at risk.
  The Registered Nurses and Patients Protection Act would amend the 
Fair Labor Standards Act to prohibit mandatory overtime beyond 8 hours 
in a work day or 80 hours in any 14-day work period except in the case 
of a natural disaster or in the event of a declaration of an emergency 
by federal, state or local government officials. The legislation does 
not preclude a nurse from voluntarily working overtime.
  Mr. Speaker, mandatory overtime for nurses is bad health care policy. 
A nurse shouldn't be on the job after the 15th or 16th consecutive hour 
especially after she has told her supervisor ``I can't do this, I've 
been on the job too many hours today.''
  Nursing is physically and mentally demanding. When a nurse is tired, 
it is much more difficult to deliver quality, professional care to 
patients. Health care experts and common sense tell us that long hours 
take a toll on mental alertness and mandatory overtime under such 
conditions can result in serious medical mistakes--medication errors, 
transcription errors, and errors in judgment. By the end of a regular 
shift a nurse is exhausted. Increasingly, however, nurses are being 
forced to work 16, 18 or even 20 consecutive hours in hospitals across 
our nation.
  Mr. Speaker, a nurse knows better than anyone--better than her 
supervisor and better than a hospital administrator--when she has 
reached the point of fatigue when continuing to work can result in 
serious medical problems. We must give nurses more power to decide if 
long hours on the job is making it difficult to perform their duties. 
This legislation is not a case of government micro-managing--this 
legislation gives nurses the power to say ``NO'' to the forced overtime 
practices of hospitals nationwide. We cannot continue to allow 
hospitals to force nurses to work so many hours that the health and 
safety of patients are put at risk. I urge my colleagues to join me in 
supporting the adoption of the Registered Nurses and Patients 
Protection Act.

                          ____________________