Whistleblowers
But it was beyond her conception that she would be indicted and threatened with 10 years in prison for doing what she knew a nurse must: inform state regulators that a doctor at her rural hospital was practicing bad medicine.
Maybe I’m misreading consensus opinion, but whistleblowers often seem vilified like prison snitches.
“It has derailed our careers, and we’re probably not going to be able to get them back on track again,” said Mrs. Galle, 54, a grandmother who is depicted around town as the soft-spoken Thelma to Mrs. Mitchell’s straight-shooting Louise. “We’re just in disbelief that you could be arrested for doing something you had been told your whole career was an obligation.” …Mrs. Mitchell said all she saw at the hospital was delay…“The medical staff needed to make a decision on him…You don’t get a second chance to save somebody’s life.”
Whistleblowers risk their livelihoods and reputations by going against consensus opinion — the powers that be. Many times the whistleblowers are performing good samaritan service at great risk and no benefit to themselves. Personal vendettas and falsehoods could be found out and punished, if that is the case. Why aren’t there laws to protect whistleblowers? Why aren’t there awards for their righteous acts?
