[groffee]

> I don't want to join a new company and leave soon after -- they don't deserve that treatment

You're projecting your own feelings onto the situation, there's nothing wrong with bailing on a company, you don't owe them anything.

You need to prioritize your own family's well-being over some random company's 'feelings'.

Just take whatever vacation/sick days you have and look for another job. Back pain is one condition you can get a doctors note for without any 'evidence'.

> I will probably owe them a big chunk of the sign-on bonus (dumb mistake on my end)

Lawyer up.

My own experience when I was 'pushed out' was I was getting micro-managed to a stupid degree by someone who didn't understand my job, they also tried to get me to fire some of my staff, when I told my staff (mistake!) management denied it making me look like a complete a*hole, eventually I got suspended and just didn't go back.

I walked into a better job, the same week, literally just up the road from where I was. Trust it will all work out.