Friends,

We are nurses at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. We’re writing to you today to shine a light on the immoral and unjust practices that our hospital regularly engages in, and what we can do to stop it.

For years, Hopkins administration has regularly harmed patients over their medical debt. Here are just some examples:

• Many patients qualified for charity care — health care provided for free to low income patients — but were never informed of the option;
• Hopkins withheld information about their patients’ legal rights and refused to negotiate payment plans;
• Hopkins regularly garnishes the wages and property of its patients –– including their own employees;
• And they aggressively pursued medical debts with collections agencies. In one case, their lawyers ordered the court to seize the last $92.18 in a patient’s bank account.

Let’s make one thing clear: this isn’t some anomaly. It’s their business model and is a direct byproduct of the abhorrent, profit-obsessed health care system in America. But we’re fighting back.

On July 20th, outside of Johns Hopkins Hospital, National Nurses United is planning a huge rally with patients, community allies, and our fellow nurses to demand an end to these unethical and harmful practices. And we need your help:

Can we count on you to show up in person on July 20? Every single individual who shows up to rally with the nurses makes our message that much more impossible to ignore.

This won’t be an easy battle. Johns Hopkins management has used harassment and intimidation to make us give in, stay quiet, and fall in line. But, when nurses have a strong, united voice, we’re able to fight for our patients without fear. And when we have YOU by our side, we can fight that much harder.

Help us return this institution to what it’s supposed to be: a place for healing, medicine, and treatment, not harmful lawsuits and crippling debt.

In solidarity,

RN Organizing Committee, Johns Hopkins Hospital