Bill would limit nurses' hours

Senator Edward M. Kennedy proposed legislation last week that calls for up to $10,000 in civil penalties against hospitals that force nurses to work extra hours after completing a shift.

Under the bill, nurses would be allowed to work overtime voluntarily, but their employers could not require that they work extra hours after a shift unless an official state of emergency is declared by the federal, state, or local government.

Nursing groups, including the 22,000-member Massachusetts Nurses Association, have aggressively lobbied against mandated overtime. The bill could face an uphill battle in the mostly Republican Congress, however.

About 100,000 Massachusetts nurses would be affected, Kennedy said.

The bill also would give the US Department of Health and Human Services authority to investigate nurses' overtime complaints and to fine violators. The department could also increase fines against repeat violators.

Paul Wingle, senior director of communications at the Massachusetts Hospital Association, which represents 112 hospitals and healthcare facilities, said the bill goes too far.

"We have had a long and fruitful relationship with Senator Kennedy and we would like to work with him on the nursing shortage issue," he said. "But these restrictions would impair the ability of caregivers to meet the demands of patients on the spot."

Wingle said the association has endorsed an agenda that includes the elimination of mandatory overtime as a routine practice.

Kennedy's bill was filed about seven months after a 2004 study by the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing revealed that nurses who worked 12.5 hours or longer were three times more likely to make errors than nurses who worked a regular shift of about 8½ hours.

Kennedy said in a statement that he filed the bill to encourage more young people to go into nursing and to ensure safe patient care. Currently, he said, US hospitals are experiencing a shortfall of 126,000 registered nurses, due to retirement and a decline in nursing school enrollments.

Julie Pinkham, executive director of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, blamed poor working conditions, including forced overtime, for the nursing shortage.

"Hospitals created the shortage because nurses are leaving the profession in droves," she said. "They are given obscene assignments, and then the nurses are burned out. We don't want shifts forced on people who are overtired."

Karen Coughlin, 46, of Mansfield, a registered psychiatric nurse at Taunton State Hospital, was required to work another shift after completing an eight-hour shift in December. Coughlin said she worked a total of 16 hours.

"I normally work from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., but I was told that I could not leave until I had completed a second shift," Coughlin said. "It was Dec. 28 and I was exhausted. I was wiped out for the next two days."

Lester Blumberg, chief of staff at the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, declined to comment. He said it would be inappropriate to discuss the matter because the department is engaged in contract talks with the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

Diane E. Lewis can be reached at dlewis@globe.com.