Nurse fired after warning supervisors about the use of inadequate protective equipment; she filed a lawsuit in response.

A month ago, Laura Mazurkiewicz was a nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago bracing for her place in the frontline of the city’s battle against the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

As predicted, Mazurkiewicz’s duties exposed her to the disease beginning in March; however, despite that exposure, she contends that Northwestern Memorial provided protective equipment that failed to adequately protect against the spread of covid-19. Law360 reports that she distributed an email to colleagues and supervisors to express her concern, stating that N-95 face masks, as opposed to the ones Northwestern Memorial required nurses to wear, filter out 95% of airborne particles, and thus, N-95 masks are dramatically better suited to protect patients, staff, and employees against the disease.

Mazurkiewicz’s email advised that she intended to wear the N-95 masks only instead of the inadequate ones the hospital supplied; and, the next day, she came to work wearing her own N-95 mask. 

That was the day she lost her job.

On Monday, Mazurkiewicz filed a lawsuit against Northwestern Memorial alleging that the hospital’s decision to terminate her employment was unlawful retaliation against her right to speak out against her employer’s malfeasance. The complaint contends the hospital’s path to silence a concerned nurse threatens to chill speech directed at supervisors to take adequate measures to protect staff and employees against the disease. She underpins her theory of relief on whistleblower protection and retaliatory discharge laws available to employees in Illinois. Many states, including North Carolina, have similar laws which provide relief for unlawful termination decisions.

Meanwhile, Law360 reports that Northwestern Memorial claims it takes the complaint seriously and is under review, adding that “the health and well-being of our patients, our staff, and our employees is our highest priority.”

Northwestern Memorial Hospital is a clinical affiliate of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, a nationally acclaimed medical school with an endowment of 2.023 Billion Dollars.

A shortage of N-95 masks at one of the nation’s wealthiest medical schools in one of the world’s wealthiest nations is a scathing indictment on the allocation of healthcare resources in this country. Mazurkiewicz now prays for relief in excess of $50,000 on the basis of the hospital’s unlawful discharge.