A Black intensive care unit nurse, DonQuenick Joppy, has secured a landmark $20 million verdict from a federal jury after suing her former employer, HCA-HealthOne LLC, the owner of The Medical Center of Aurora in Colorado. Joppy, 41, was awarded $5 million in compensatory damages and $15 million in punitive damages after a July–August trial concluded that she had been wrongfully terminated and falsely blamed for a patient’s death in retaliation for her complaints of racial discrimination.
Joppy’s legal battle began after she was fired in June 2019 following the death of a 93-year-old patient on life support in the ICU. According to her lawsuit, she was providing palliative care when identified by a respiratory therapist—via a phone consultation—to withdraw the ventilator. Joppy stayed in the room to comfort the patient’s family until he passed. A medical examiner ruled the death as from natural causes, yet the hospital accused her of acting beyond her scope of practice by removing the ventilator, alleging she may have caused the patient to suffer for 13 minutes.
In response, Joppy pursued legal action in April 2022, claiming that the hospital mischaracterized her actions as a means to retaliate against her earlier complaints of racist treatment by predominantly non-Black management. She alleged enduring repeated microaggressions and humiliating behavior—including being yelled at, isolated from colleagues, denied professional opportunities, and subjected to unfair disciplinary measures—none of which were extended to her non-Black peers.
Criminal charges followed: in November 2020, the Colorado Attorney General’s Office charged Joppy with manslaughter and negligent death of an at-risk person. T hese were dropped nearly a year later, in September 2021, “in the interest of justice.” During litigation, Joppy’s attorneys argued that the hospital not only sought to terminate her employment but also to strip her nursing license and ruin her career—all based on racially motivated pretext.
The jury found in Joppy’s favor on her claims of discrimination and retaliation, and Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney approved the verdict shortly thereafter. Her lead attorney, Jennifer Robinson, remarked that while the verdict cannot erase everything Joppy endured, “it will encourage hospitals and healthcare systems to take the concerns of frontline nurses seriously, ensure employees are treated with dignity and fairness, and that workplaces are free from racial discrimination.”
Joppy herself expressed that she “fought to defend [her] integrity for six long years,” and that this verdict brings the “final piece” in her fight for truth and accountability. Since her termination, she revealed that she faced housing instability and was forced to live apart from her teenage daughter. The hospital spokesperson announced plans to appeal, maintaining that Joppy acted outside her scope of practice and insisting they reported the incident as legally required.
