2017- 2022

Associated with LaPorte Law Group, PLLC

 

We are proud to have assisted nine out of nine state nurses who were working in Massachusetts’ State Hospital environments, caring for the most afflicted and sometimes dangerous of our mentally ill population, obtain the reclassification into the Retirement Group they deserve, despite opposition from State Officials.

Now, however, the challenge presented by the Administrative Courts is more difficult due to the imposition of a distinction and prerequisite that the cared-for patients must have a “primary diagnosis” of mental illness, regardless of symptomology and the percentage of resources a nurse devoted to a patient’s mental illness versus medical illness. A widely respected neurologist has called the “primary” vs. “secondary” diagnosis an “artificial” one. Indeed, it is. And it is arbitrary, not defined, not reflective of the realities these loyal nurses have encountered for upwards of 25 years. The bottom line is that it is unfair, and it can and will be defeated as a judge-created legal impediment unsupported in the law.

We intend to change that when the next opportunity arises and will continue to advocate for our hard-working nurse population.