A female employee at the HUSLAB laboratory in Helsinki's Myllypuro health station appeared in a YouTube video, in which she admits to treating immigrant clients improperly, the Finnish daily Iltalehti reported.
"I don't say 'good morning,' I don't acknowledge them at all," the nurse admitted in the video, which was recorded and uploaded to YouTube by an acquaintance. "They are dirt under my feet. I show them with my every gesture how they piss me off."
"They almost all have tuberculosis," she claimed in the video.
The nurse then acknowledged to her acquaintance that she used the thickest needle possible when taking blood from migrant patients to cause more pain.
"They whine when I prick the skin," the nurse said.
Following this alarming discovery, the nurse was reportedly fired, which has, however not been confirmed by the Myllypuro health center.
"We were informed of the matter on September 18," Myllypuro's Senior Health Officer Ragnar Ulfvens said. "Of course it's really aggravating, a really bad thing, that something like this could happen. Really shocking, I can't say any more," he added.
Pius Aarnisalo of HUSLAB, the laboratory service in Helsinki and Uusimaa for which the nurse had been working, could not confirm the dismissal either, yet guaranteed that his establishment had zero tolerance for racism.
"I am not in a position to comment on the matters of an individual employee, but I am aware of the video and the case in question. In general, I can say that we have a complete zero tolerance for racism here at HUSLAB. We are always serious about such cases," Pius Aarnisalo said, adding that the law requires healthcare professionals to treat people equally and always strive for the patient's benefit. He also added that disciplinary measures are chosen individually.
A 2011 poll showed that 66 percent of Finnish respondents considered Finland to be a racist country, yet only 14 percent admitted to being racists themselves.
