Illinois Jury Awards $5M to Nurse Fired After Reporting Alleged Abuse

A central Illinois jury has awarded $5.2 million to a nurse who claims she was fired from a nursing home after reporting alleged abuse.

The (Bloomington) Pantagraph reports Katrina Wesemann worked as a licensed practical nurse at a Dwight facility in 2012 when she was fired. She alleges she was let go because she wouldn’t follow a director’s orders to increase dosages of anti-anxiety medication to agitated residents and refused to change or omit records of suspicious injuries.

The jury deliberated last week. Wesemann will receive past wages, benefits and $5 million in punitive damages.

A spokesman for the nursing home, Bloomington-based Heritage Enterprises Inc., says officials continue to dispute the allegations and are “deeply disappointed” in the verdict.

An attorney says Wesemann works at another facility.