What happens when a nurse follows the Code of Ethics—and pays the price?
In today’s episode of Nurses Out Loud, postpartum nurse Michelle Spencer, RN walks us through what she witnessed on her unit: a shift from ~1 stillbirth/month to ~4/week after the COVID-19 shot was pushed in pregnancy. When Michelle raised concerns, shared internal communications, and advocated for real informed consent, she was punished—then fought back with a landmark lawsuit. This post distills our conversation through the lens of the 2025 Nursing Code of Ethics so nurses, parents, and professionals can see exactly how ethics is lived in real time.

“Ethics aren’t optional in nursing. They’re our compass, our covenant, and our courage in action.”

The Spike No One Wanted to Discuss

Michelle describes a hospital culture that went from celebrating healthy moms and babies to managing a surge in fetal demises—four per week where historically they saw ~four per year. Instead of investigating the obvious timeline, leadership allegedly offered deflections (“pesticides,” “moms aren’t healthy”) and sent an email titled “Record High Dead Babies”—focusing on procedures for handling remains, not investigating causes.

When Michelle shared the internal email externally, she was investigated, denied a retention bonus, and warned for “policy” violations—classic retaliation for raising safety concerns.

Read the complaint: Children’s Health Defense — Full Filing (PDF)

Why This Is Ethics—Not Politics

We walked through each provision because Michelle’s story is a living case study of the Code.

Provisions 1–3: Dignity, Commitment, Advocacy

• Provision 1: Respect for Human Dignity
  Michelle refused to treat babies as statistics; she honored each life as sacred.
  
  
  
• Provision 2: Primary Commitment to the Patient
  She put mothers and infants ahead of institutional loyalty or peer pressure.
  

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