Trial lawyers specializing in personal injury and civil litigation
Nurse fired for refusing to send nursing home resident home with meds in an unmarked baggie
Tara Bonds was employed as an LPN by Laurel Health Care Company of Galesburg. In September of 2006, she was instructed to place a resident's Dilaudid in an unmarked bag for the cancer patient to self-administer during an out-of-town medical appointment away from the facility. Bonds refused to comply under the belief that to do so would violate federal law. She was terminated the following day and filed a lawsuit contesting her discharge. She claimed that her termination violated state and federal public policy. The trial court agreed, but the Court of Appeals reviewed the federal laws governing the administration and labeling of Dilaudid and concluded that it would not have violated Federal law to comply with Bonds' instructions. On the basis of its "more informed" reading of the law, the Court dismissed Bonds' wrongful termination lawsuit.