Since 1996 Adams has been waging a fight against the nurse supervisors who fired him after he spoke out against understaffing at the Youville Health Care Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was a nurse. Shortly after he was fired from the extended-care facility, a patient died from a morphine overdose.

Thirty supporters packed the small hearing room where the board considered his complaint. Another 30 picketed outside the building. "We need more nurses like Barry Adams," "Equal accountability for all nurses," and "Justice for Barry Adams is Justice for all Nurses," read the signs carried by the protesters.

The action supporting Adams was organized by the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA), which has 20,000 members. Adams's case has struck a chord with many nurses because it raises the point of view that nurse-managers, who implement cost-cutting decisions, reduce staff, or use inexperienced personnel, should be responsible for any care-related accidents.

As David Schildmeier, a spokesperson for the MNA, explains, "He's become a national symbol for courageous nurses who stand up for patients and get punished for doing so."

In 1997 the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Adams had been unjustly fired and ordered him reinstated with back pay. A year later he resubmitted a complaint he had filed in 1996 with BORN, accusing his nurse supervisors of unprofessional and unethical conduct. The 1998 complaint, which added his firing as further evidence, was the complaint the board dismissed.

Explaining why BORN dropped his case, Adams said, "Health care is big business. Their decision is to aid big business. They are not going to set new precedents that would hold nurse executives accountable."

Nurses and their supporters attended the protest from across the state. More than half a dozen students studying nursing at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell attended the hearing. Sarah, one of the students, explained that she came to the hearing because "we need to stick together. We care for people. We need to care for each other too."

Bryan, another student, said, "It is important to be here. I will be a nurse in the future and will face the same problems."

The students invited Adams to come to their school to speak about his fight. Adams is also considering challenging the state agency's decision in court.

Ted Leonard is a member of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees.  
 
 
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