SE Missouri hospital won't hire smokers

[3mnkids]

http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/article_d15d3916-f703-11df-be15-0017a4a78c22.html

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- Starting next year, smokers need not apply for jobs at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau.

The Southeast Missourian newspaper reports that starting Jan. 1, the hospital will no longer hire smokers. Applicants will be tested for nicotine as part of a pre-employment screening.

The policy will not affect current employees, who will continue to be offered access to tobacco cessation programs and other incentives to stop smoking.

A spokesman for the Missouri Hospital Association says he knows of only one other hospital in the state with a similar policy - Truman Medical Center in Kansas City.

Thoughts? I understand it's their right to hire whoever they want but this just doesn't seem right to  me. What's next, checking whether or not someone has a high fat diet, those with a high rate of cancer in the family, or how about not hiring those who are 20 or 30 pounds overweight, people who drink excessively? If heath care cost are the reason for this all of the things I just listed also contribute to the high cost of heath care.
This is a slippery slope IMO and yes, im a smoker   

[indianasmith]

Cigarettes confer NO health benefits and kill their users - and sometimes those around them.  WHY are they even legal?


Oh, wait, the government gets money from taxing them.

Never mind.

[Jim H]

Cigarettes confer NO health benefits and kill their users - and sometimes those around them.  WHY are they even legal?


Oh, wait, the government gets money from taxing them.

Never mind.

Well, nicotine does have health benefits if I recall right.  Not long term overall ones, but it improves concentration, memory, reflexes and a few other things. 

Personally, I think this is a ridiculous policy.  I don't think employers have any real business in the private lives of their employees.  If they don't want chain smokers who have to skip out of work every 30 minutes to smoke, that'd be one thing.  Or if they think seeing doctors smoke is bad policy or some crap, don't let them smoke at the building.  But those are measurable performance issues, separate from this.  Beyond that, I don't see the relevance. 

I'm also curious if the amount of nicotine matters.  What about pipe or cigar smokers?  They'll typically have far less nicotine in their system.

[lester1/2jr]

hospital work can be kind of a grind and lot of them smoke.

Ever since people stopped smoking in this country they ahve gotte nfatter. They drink huge sodas instead of smoking.

I almost want them to just bring back smoking.

[Rev. Powell]

Speaking as a smoker, I think it's perfectly reasonable.  If I were a hospital administrator I wouldn't want to hire a smoker, or a morbidly obese person, for that matter.  There are perfectly rational reasons to discriminate against smokers, it's nothing like race or sex.  Let them hire or not hire whoever they want.

[Umaril The Unfeathered]

http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/article_d15d3916-f703-11df-be15-0017a4a78c22.html

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- Starting next year, smokers need not apply for jobs at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau.

The Southeast Missourian newspaper reports that starting Jan. 1, the hospital will no longer hire smokers. Applicants will be tested for nicotine as part of a pre-employment screening.

The policy will not affect current employees, who will continue to be offered access to tobacco cessation programs and other incentives to stop smoking.

A spokesman for the Missouri Hospital Association says he knows of only one other hospital in the state with a similar policy - Truman Medical Center in Kansas City.

Thoughts? I understand it's their right to hire whoever they want but this just doesn't seem right to  me. What's next, checking whether or not someone has a high fat diet, those with a high rate of cancer in the family, or how about not hiring those who are 20 or 30 pounds overweight, people who drink excessively? If heath care cost are the reason for this all of the things I just listed also contribute to the high cost of heath care.
This is a slippery slope IMO and yes, im a smoker   

While I disagree with smoking, it IS an individual right, and I see no reason why this is happening.

But there too...some places now want to determine your job eligibility on your credit score,  and some homeowners cannot get insurance (or get it at insane rates) if they own a gun, or certain types of dogs.   More BS.  Not their business.

Same, how many people have been barred from life insurance for some pre-existing condition, while the rich a-hole burecrats can write a blank check to have them look the other way on their conditions?

A bit off topic in my last few examples, but opening up some more doors to more baseless restrictions nonetheless.