The woman above, a nurse at a Georgia hospital, was told to go home and not to come back to work until she got rid of her flamboyant (I’m being nice) hair style. The woman—I don’t care what her name is—claims that the ‘do is culturally significant, whatever that’s supposed to mean. She also claims that it doesn’t interfere with her job, which I would dispute, and that the hospital is discriminating against her race by telling her that is isn’t professional to dress up like an exotic bird …
…to care for sick people.
I think the lawsuit is a loser: I’m sure the administrators will say convincingly that no one, male or female, black, white or puce, would be allowed to work with that on their head. The woman is an exhibitionist. Personally, I would be wary of trusting any hospital that allowed someone with such dubious judgment and misaligned values to be charged with patient care.
Also, as someone whose week long stay in a hospital last summer featured being awakened out of a deep sleep to have some nurse’s head four inches from my face, the sight of that hat hair could spark a cardiac episode.
But hey! I can be convinced otherwise. So that’s why…
Today’s Ethics Alarms Ethics Quiz is…
Ethics Alarms 
I am pasty white with straight hair. However, I have a bigger objection to long fingernails that disable the ability to type than hair that does not interfere. In fact I encourage personal expression on my teams and have learned just how significant hair style is in the black community. Pants hanging below the buttocks is another thing all together. If she has a loving demeanor and is exceptionally skilled at nursing, I say the hospital should embrace forward thinking and embrace this kind of expression. A beautiful and generous smile with hair like that is a great conversation piece to brighten the cold sterility of modern hospitals. I say she is both meeting and also exceeding by accident.