OTTUMWA, Iowa (KTVO) - A hospital worker in Iowa was fired from her position after a video allegedly showed her flossing her teeth over a patient.
On Dec. 25, 2024, Joe Bainbridge shared a video on Facebook of his best friend, Cole “Tiny” Cross, who was being treated at Ottumwa Regional Health Center for congenital heart disease.
In the video, the nurse’s aide is seen flossing her teeth while standing over the patient.
Despite Cross’ attempts to get her attention, the aide continues to floss and ignores him.
The video quickly went viral, gaining over 900 shares and nearly 335,000 views.
The hospital issued a statement regarding the video.
“Ottumwa Regional Health Center has a zero-tolerance policy for actions that don’t align with our core values. As soon as this unacceptable behavior was flagged for us early last week, we addressed it, immediately suspending and then terminating the employment of the staff member involved. This one incident is not a reflection of the dedication of our team or the great care we provide our community each day. We encourage anyone who sees something like this to speak up and report it so we can resolve it as quickly as possible, ensuring the health and safety of our patients and learning from it,” the hospital system stated.
While the staff member’s employment has ended, Cross’ medical journey continues.
He was released from MercyOne in Des Moines on Jan. 6, but he may still need further care.
There is also legal action for what happened being considered, but no formal steps have been taken at this time.
The Iowa Board of Nursing did not immediately respond to an inquiry about if the aide could face any additional consequences.
This story has been updated to more accurately reflect the worker’s job title.
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11twofour on February 5th, 2025 at 01:21 UTC »
She's nowhere near a sink! Did she have a stroke? Who does that?
InsomniaticWanderer on February 5th, 2025 at 00:01 UTC »
Just like...why?
DeadLettersSociety on February 5th, 2025 at 00:01 UTC »
It just feels weird that the worker would do it there, standing over a patient, in the first place. Firstly, it doesn't feel like a sanitary place for them to do it, or sanitary for the patient, either.
Surely there are much better places to do it. Was the worker doing it just to annoy the patient? I read through the article, but didn't really see an answer...