State Senator Judy Robson is pushing a bill to prohibit employers from forcing nurses to work overtime. The Beloit Democrat says there are limits on how long truckers and airline pilots can work to ensure safety, so why not nurses, who make hundreds of life-and-death decisions each day? The bill does allow for overtime in the case of an unforeseeable emergency, and also allows whistle-blower protections. Robson says the health care industry wants it both ways, claiming there's no shortage of nurses, yet still requiring mandatory overtime. She says the possibility of a mistake is increased when a nurse works back-to-back shifts.
