Nursing News: Nurse Gets $41 Million Award

By Nurse Blake

Will This Major Healthcare Organization Get the Memo?

THIS NURSE SPOTTED SOME SERIOUS PROBLEMS and was fired — She said pay up!

Heard about the nurse who sued a large hospital system and cashed out with over $41 Million?

If you thought nurses going on strike were ballsy, just wait until you hear about this brave nurse who put that hospital system on blast!

This sends a huge message that nurses with integrity and grit can’t just be trampled over!

According to MyNewsLA, Maria Gatchalian, a nurse who worked at a large healthcare system, brought up concerns on several occasions to leadership about the quality of care and patient safety. Her worries were mostly alleged inadequate staffing levels, based on MyNewsLA. In the end, she was fired. So, she sued that facility’s ass and scored a whopping $41 MILLION in the process! Damn, girl!

PROFITS BEFORE SAFETY, YOU SAY?

Maria wasn’t new to nursing. It turns out she had worked at that facility since 1989, a whole 30 years before she got fired in 2019! She started working there as a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurse. By the time she was fired, she was a charge nurse in the NICU. So she knew damn well what an unsafe patient assignment looked like. 

So, according to The Sacramento Bee, Maria said there was an incident where a patient’s father brought a knife whenever he came to the NICU. Maria notified the NICU director and hospital union president about her concerns. And get this! The complaint says her supervisor started to “routinely harass, micro-manage, retaliate, and intimidate” her, per The Sacramento Bee. What?!? WTF is going on over there?

The Sacramento Bee reported that in addition to the alleged harassment from her supervisor, Maria was worried about inadequate staffing levels in the NICU.

Now Maria, being the badass nurse she is, didn’t just sit back. Per MyNewsLA, she raised issues about patient safety and quality of care, especially relating to low staffing. And management at the major healthcare system discouraged Maria from making official complaints, according to MyNewsLA. Excuse me, but did they legit tell Maria NOT to report safety issues?

Maria kept advocating for change. Love, love your persistence, girl!

THE BAREFOOT DEBACLE

Just when you think things couldn’t get worse, they straight up FIRED Maria in 2019! Was it a legit termination or were they looking for excuses?

Apparently, there was an incident where Maria admitted, “She took off her shoes and socks and placed her bare feet on an isolette, a medical device that holds sick or premature newborn babies,” according to MyNewsLA. So, they claimed they fired Maria for this incident.

They said that she was a charge nurse and should have been a leader and should have known better! I smell a big fat BS! The Sacramento Bee reported that, according to Maria’s lawyers, that incident was literally her only work violation ever during her 30 years at that hospital system!

Based on The Sacramento Bee, Maria said that the facility jumped on the isolette incident. The Sacramento Bee reported, “However, Gatchalian maintains her termination was for different reasons, including for ‘retaliatory purposes,’ according to the complaint.”

$41M MESSAGE: HEY, IT’S ACTUALLY SAFETY BEFORE PROFITS!

By then, Maria was fed up. She went ahead and slapped the hospital system with a fat lawsuit in 2021.

According to MyNewsLA, many people came forward during the trial to testify that the facility was understaffed. Love that united front!

The jury sided with Maria and socked the hospital system with an epic $41 MILLION in damages!

And you’ve probably already guessed what happened next…

The jury sided with Maria and socked the hospital system with an epic $41 MILLION in damages!

Meanwhile, the powers-that-be at that facility said they totally plan to appeal this $41 million payout, per The Sacramento Bee.

STAND TALL AND SPEAK UP!

This sends a huge message that nurses with integrity and grit can’t just be trampled over!

Don’t quit, know your rights, and always stand for justice!

So let Maria’s courage be a lesson to all nurses! Report every concern, document it, notify administrators and regulators, protect yourself with witnesses — do what you gotta do! Safety over profits, y’all!

Don’t quit, know your rights, and always stand for justice! (And if you get awarded some cha-ching in the process like Maria, that’s pretty cool too!)

IF YOU SPOT SAFETY ISSUES

• Report your concerns
• Document everything
• Get witnesses
• Know retaliation rights
• Escalate concerns to the top
• Contact regulatory agencies
• Contact a lawyer if needed
• Persist bravely for you, your coworkers, and patients

Sources