Smokers Need Not Apply

There was an interview on CNN yesterday about how some hospitals, the one yesterday is in in Ohio, are screening candidates for nicotine use. Unfortunately the video is not posted on their site which is unfortunate because there was a great Q&A.

So far it seems just a few hospitals are doing this.

Their reasons range from wanting to cut healthcare costs to promoting a healthier lifestyle.

Critics ask about a slippery slope like beer drinkers and those who eat meat.

I don’t know what to think about this. On the one hand I get the cost of covering employees healthcare and on the other it seems like we are getting into their behavior.

Is this business doing their best to handle out of control costs or an intrusion into (potential) employees lives?

A few articles and video:

At More U.S. Workplaces, Smokers Need Not Apply (Newsday)

Hospital: Smokers need not apply (CNN)

Inquirer Editorial: Smokers should quit, but they also need to work (Philadelphia Enquirer)

And from a few months ago a video on FOX News about the Baylor Health Care System

 
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Comments

[kojack]

It is a slippery slope and they most likely need to double check their decision on this. Its seems to me that overweight/diabetics/people with diseases also should be in the same boat if it really is all about healthcare costs. After all, I am pretty sure when they put all this together, smokers will come out on the lower half of the totem pole.

[Ryan]

There is a local hospital in SE Michigan that has a statement on their career site: http://www.oakwood.org/search-oakwood-jobs/