A Louisiana nurse has taken her fight for justice to social media, claiming she was wrongfully disciplined and stripped of her nursing license after blowing the whistle on unsafe and discriminatory practices at a behavioral health facility in LaPlace.
In a fiery Instagram post and accompanying video, Natalie J. Henderson, who identifies as a nurse and whistleblower, accused River Place Behavioral Health of punishing her for speaking out while allowing white employees to violate workplace rules without consequence.
“White registered nurse Ellie Bahm can sleep on the job, but they give me job abandonment,” Henderson wrote in her post. “I’m not staying quiet — being quiet is the problem.”
Henderson cited Louisiana Revised Statute 42:1169, which protects whistleblowers from retaliation, stating that public employees who are “wrongfully suspended, demoted, or dismissed” for reporting wrongdoing are entitled to reinstatement and lost wages. She is calling on the United States Supreme Court to intervene after state agencies allegedly failed to investigate her evidence.
“There’s no resources in Louisiana — this is why I’m coming to the internet,” she said in the video, expressing frustration that “none of the judges are looking at my evidence” and claiming the Louisiana State Board of Nursing has “barely” reviewed her case.
The video shows Henderson visibly emotional as she accuses River Place Behavioral Health staff of negligence and racial bias. She describes white colleagues “sleeping on the job,” “watching movies,” and “never doing rounds,” while she was disciplined for taking short breaks.
“I did all the work,” she said. “They’re bullies — the whole state is full of bullies.”
Henderson also tied her experience to her advocacy for domestic violence survivors, saying she’s been forced to fight “alone” for both patient rights and professional fairness.
“I’m standing alone. There’s no Black women standing with me down here,” she declared. “My livelihood has been wrecked just for standing up for patient care.”
She ended her video by demanding that her nursing license be cleared and calling for River Place Behavioral Health to be shut down.
“I want my nursing license cleared because I stood up for patients’ rights,” she said. “River Place Behavioral needs to be shut down — period.”
River Place Behavioral Health has not publicly responded to Henderson’s allegations, and the Louisiana State Board of Nursing has not commented on the ongoing dispute.
If substantiated, Henderson’s claims could fall under Louisiana’s Whistleblower Protection Law, which is enforced by the Louisiana Board of Ethics and provides protections for employees who report wrongdoing in public or publicly funded institutions.
