On Behalf of Sean Cushing, PA-C

 

April 22, 2024

 

To: Ben LeBlanc, Laurie Chern, Laurie Pino, Darren Gillette, William Olson

 

Providence Health and Services, Oregon

4400 NE Halsey St

Portland, Oregon 97213

 

As caregivers of Providence, we are respectfully asking for the reinstatement of Sean Cushing.  Sean has worked as a PA for Providence Medical Group at Gateway Immediate Care in Portland, OR for the past eight years of his career.  Those who serve PMG patients at Gateway are living the mission of Providence, as a majority of Gateway patients experience social conditions that put them at the margins of our society: racial minorities; immigrants and refugees; those with incurable diseases and chemical dependencies; the uninsured and the underinsured.  Additionally, the Immediate Cares often cover for Primary Care, where access commonly lags behind need by multiple months. 

After due diligence and consideration, Sean wrote medication specifically requested by the patient to abort her undesired 1st trimester pregnancy.  Subsequently this medication was not dispensable through the pharmacy.  We acknowledge that Sean’s grounds for termination were rooted in a single medical decision that conflicted with the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services. We also acknowledge that Sean’s termination was based on PMG’s determination that he engaged in medical decision making outside of his scope of practice.  His actions did not result in any harm or distress to the patient or her fetus.  He has expressed both acknowledgement and remorse for his medical decision and we feel that PMG’s action to terminate his employment (rather than a more appropriate response such as a focused performance plan) does not stay true to Providence’s intrinsic values of Compassion and Justice.  

Moreover, we feel that Providence has acted with a swift and harsh punishment after failing to follow Directive number 5 of the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services: Catholic health care services must adopt these Directives as policy, require adherence to them within an institution as a condition for medical privileges and employment, and provide appropriate instruction regarding the Directives for administration, medical, and nursing staff, and other personnel.  How are those of us who are not practicing Catholics expected to understand and internalize these directives if we have less education on them than we get on billing, fire drills, or hazardous materials handling? 

In an era where caregiver burnout and moral injury are at an all time high, Providence’s actions in terminating our colleague’s employment leaves us with the feeling that those of serving in PMG Primary and Immediate Care are expendable cogs in the machine, rather than what we know we are and what we know Sean embodies in his many years of service to Providence.  

We show up everyday to live Providence’s mission and serve those who are poor and vulnerable.  Sean's termination was unfair, unnecessary, and unloving. Please return him to his valued position at Gateway Immediate Care. 

(the undersigned)