A Black ICU nurse who claimed a Colorado hospital racially discriminated against her and then fired her for complaining, while wrongfully blaming her for an elderly patient’s death, was awarded $20 million by a federal jury last month.

DonQuenick Joppy, 41, sued HCA-HealthOne LLC, the parent company of The Medical Center of Aurora, in U.S. District Court in Colorado in April 2022, three years after she was fired in the wake of the death of a 93-year-old patient who was experiencing organ failure and septic shock when he was admitted to the intensive care unit, attached to a ventilator.

The unconscious man’s family soon agreed to turn off his ventilator, and Joppy was initially charged with palliative care — making his death as comfortable and painless as possible, according to the lawsui

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