Deleted duplicate.

This is another example of an article leaving out some important details to portray a sympathetic person as the victim of a villain. When I read the article, I immediately noticed that the type of cancer was not described and wondered why that detail was omitted. The woman's cancer has already affected her pancreas, liver, and ovaries. Cancer is the real villain in this case, not her employer.

 

The doctor, as his lawyer suggested, was probably doing her a favor, although he also probably broke the law in doing so. I am not an attorney, but as I understand it, the doctor could have waited until the woman was unable to do her job and then fired her without violating the ADA. If he had done so, then the woman may have been denied unemployment pay.

 

A diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is a virtual death sentence. It is extremely rare for patients who are diagnosed with this disease in its very early stages and treated by the best doctors in the world to survive as long as 5 years. Pancreatic cancer is also a very painful disease that usually requires heavy doses of pain medication. In this case, the disease was apparently not discovered until it had spread to multiple organs. It is very likely that the woman will be dead in 6 to 12 months, if not sooner.

 

The lay-off letter that the doctor wrote to the woman was obviously written primarily to ensure that the woman would not be denied unemployment benefits. Maybe some of us would have handled the situation differently, but the doctor could have done worse and it would never have become a national story.

 

Wouldn't she just have to file for FMLA?

Absolutely correct. I have owned a CPA practice for many years, and without a doubt, doctors are (on average) the worst business owners I deal with on a recurring basis. They also tend to be horrible money managers when it comes to personal finances......... Of course, when you have to pay alimony to 3 ex-wives/former nurse employees, things can get to be a little tough.

 

I never talk about what I do and never will. But I will say the two hardest professionals to deal with are Doctors and Engineers. Very intelligent people who think they are experts in all fields. Not everyone but a majority of people in those fields. Makes it very difficult.

Wouldn't she just have to file for FMLA?

How would taking a 12-week unpaid leave help her? Keep in mind that none of us know what kind of benefits the doctor was providing. There could have been an undisclosed agreement between them that would have provided money to pay for COBRA benefits. My point is, we really do not know all of the details here, so it is wrong to conclude that the doctor acted like a monster.

That would explain the formal wording of the notice.

That would explain the formal wording of the notice.

I worked for a company that had to shut its doors after losing its only major contract in early 2009, which it had held for more than 25 years. The owner kept all of the employees for five months while he unsuccessfully tried to renegotiate the contract. When he terminated us, instead of giving us severance pay, which may have disqualified us for unemployment compensation, he had his lawyer draft an agreement where we were paid in exchange for agreeing not to go to work directly for the company that terminated our contract for 3 years.

 

That is why I suggested that things may not be quite the way that they seem in this case. The doctor and the woman could have reached a confidential agreement that was a win-win for both parties, and the friend who posted the termination letter may not have known. If the termination had been acrimonious, then the woman would probably be venting to the media, or at least on her own Facebook page.

 

We will never know unless the doctor and/or the woman speak for themselves and they may have both bound themselves to an agreement of silence.

Wouldn't she just have to file for FMLA?

 

Yup that was missed in the post. You can also use it intermittently as well.

Yup that was missed in the post. You can also use it intermittently as well.

Leave without pay would not help this woman. That point was missed in this post.

 

This woman obviously has an advanced case of cancer that is almost certainly terminal and once she is unable to work, she will not be returning to the office. That is simply not the prognosis for people who have pancreatic cancer that has spread to other vital organs. Had she been stricken with a curable cancer with better treatment options, I doubt that the doctor would have reacted as he did.