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Ex-Nursing Student Awarded $450,000
United Press International
August 29, 2009
A Georgia woman expelled from nursing school 13 weeks before graduation will receive $450,000 for her ordeal, a jury has decided.
Sara Castle, 55, was thrown out of Appalachian Technical College in Jasper, Ga., after she blew the whistle on an instructor who wasn’t providing students with sufficient clinical training time, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Friday.
Castle said she and the other students would arrive early in the morning for their clinical training but the instructor would dismiss them by 8 a.m.
Castle said when she told college administrators what was happening, they fired the instructor and then expelled her.
After two days of testimony, it took the jury less than an hour to award Castle $400,000 in punitive damages and $50,000 for emotional injuries, said her attorney, James Satcher.
dudeyowuzup
over 3 years ago
4 comments
Wow. I did the accelerated program at Our Lady of the Lake in Louisiana. It was a new program, but only one instructor tried to pull that crap where she hung out in the break room, and she got fired because everyone complained about her. She was pissed, but no one got kicked out for it. I think the people in the Accelerated program have higher expectations because we all already have degrees, so we know what they should be doing.
Account Removed
over 3 years ago
Great. This is be a lesson for all those schools out there that think you can toss a student out on the -ss when they point out something that is wrong. I'm glad for this student.
hanarasel18
over 3 years ago
24 comments
Good for you, Sara!! The nursing profession needs people like you to stand up for what is right! It's an absolute disgrace re: not only how the school treated when you came forward, but that an "instructor" would behave in such an unprofessional manner to begin with!
ShirleyAldrich
over 3 years ago
38 comments
Thank you Sara. We need more people like you. This situation could have caused alot of tragedy in the nursing field because the nurses were not trained appropriately. I hope that you still went on to finish your degree. The nursing field needs people like you.
chattycathy
over 3 years ago
32 comments
I had the same thing happen, hag is still there and DON is as lazy. Still ongoing!!
tabbigirl87
over 3 years ago
64 comments
Thank you, Sara. The world needs more people like you.
Kimmie_T
over 3 years ago
66 comments
She desereved every penny and then some; those student could be henderance onthe floor and hurt patients and not get proper trianing. Good for her!!!! Kudos!!! There is already a nursing shortage to begin, we need adequate people to help the world, and we proper instructor to do so.
nineteenseventyfive
over 3 years ago
20 comments
Good for you Sara. I hope you bring that type of integraty to your work.
ColleenMcFarland
over 3 years ago
28 comments
Thank You for stepping forward Sara and perservering. You have made a difference for others. I just hope that if you are still interested in pursuing a nursing career that you can find a program that will take you on so you can finish and get your certification. Sometimes, even if you are proven to be correct, you carry a "stigma" of being a trouble-maker that nobody wants to touch. That's why these people who aren't living up to their responsibilities--such as poor instructors--get away with these things for so long. Students and others are afraid to come forward to protect their futures. Like I said before--thank you Sara!
ellennp
over 3 years ago
4 comments
Kudos , To Sara.
Cant people just do whats right.
2BARN
over 3 years ago
12 comments
Thank you Sara for having the will power to blow the whistle on this instructor! This is our choice to go to school and we are paying these instructors to teach us and when they don't come through for us, it only hurst us because they will get paid the next semester to teach other students so while you are failing they are still getting paid! Thank you for bringing this to the public to inform them on what is going on.
KarenLester11
over 3 years ago
4 comments
Their are a lot of nursing instructors who should be fired.
Account Removed
over 3 years ago
Good for this nursing student! With all the training on harrassment and retaliation in companies and organizations it still continues to happen they just know how to hide it better. It takes alot of emotional turmoil to go through a lawsuit and come out on the other end positive---bless you for standing up for yourself and others. Many have tried before, I had, and I lost, because my small town attorneys that did not want to fight with the big attorneys in the city. The emotional turmoil of it all it resulted in the loss of a new marriage, the loss of money, friendships, etc. So kudos to you, you are awesome!!
raymoss1
over 3 years ago
220 comments
When I went to nursing school the instructors would sit in the break room all day. They where never around to assist the students. They would come down to the units at 2pm to sign off on documentation. when the documentation was not to their liking they would belittle us. We did not get the education that we paid for. I wiskh one of us would have had the guts to speak up. I anm glad the student got justice.
Account Removed
over 3 years ago
Wow, I wonder how many other classes she had gotten away with doing that. If it was mor than this one class, there are some ill-prepared nurses out there (if they were able to pass boards)!