They Thought Firing Me Would Silence Me - It Only Made Me Louder

Sharisse Stephenson
6 days ago
2 min read

I went to Bon Secours with good intentions.

I wanted to serve patients, build a better neurology clinic, and bring consistent neurological care to a community that desperately needed it. I believed reason would win — that someone in leadership would eventually recognize that patients deserve access to care, and physicians deserve a safe environment to provide it.

Instead, I met retaliation.

After a near workplace-violence incident, I requested an ADA accommodation for a safe clinic setting. The response wasn’t support or problem-solving. It was denial. Then, while I was still on leave, I was fired for cause.

What followed wasn’t just termination — it was escalation.

They expanded a non-compete clause I never agreed to. They withheld my earned bonus. They demanded $150,000 within two weeks. And they simultaneously restricted me from working anywhere in the region — effectively stripping my income while tightening the handcuffs.

I had followed their Code of Conduct.

I had stayed quiet.

I had stayed professional.

I had stayed hopeful.

But after that?

Okay. Bet.

Now I say their name out loud: Bon Secours Mercy Health.

I say it while they advertise themselves as a “Great Place to Work,” a “Top Place for Women,” a “Leader in Diversity.” I say it because I can. Because firing me didn’t silence me — it freed me.

When you take away someone’s paycheck but insist they remain bound by your rules, your codes, and your silence, you don’t own them. You just delay the inevitable.

And silence was never my calling.

I’m transparent by nature. I’m direct. I don’t sanitize pain or translate harm into corporate-friendly language. Some people call that a big mouth. Fine. I call it clarity.

Now I speak.

Now I write.

Now I advocate.

For myself — and for every clinician who has been punished for prioritizing patient safety, asking for accommodations, or refusing to disappear quietly.

I may have to file bankruptcy because of what they’ve done.

But I’m free.

And they should’ve remembered the saying:

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

Because while I was their employee, I was bound.

Now, I’m free — and I’m singing like a hummingbird.