Nurse Fired After Warning Staff Of Coronavirus Mask Safety: Suit

CHICAGO — A nurse says she was fired for warning her co-workers the face masks provided to staff at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago did not offer the most protection from coronavirus for health care workers.

Lauri Mazurkiewicz was terminated Thursday after she showed up to work wearing a particulate respirator N95 face mask she brought from home, according to a lawsuit filed on her behalf in Cook County Circuit Court. She said the hospital has a policy forbidding its employees from wearing the N95 models.

A day earlier, Mazurkiewicz had sent an email to employees and supervisors saying the masks were more effective at preventing the transmission of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, her complaint said.

Mazurkiewicz's suit accuses Northwestern of retaliatory discharge and retaliation under the Illinois Whistleblower Act. It says her email was accurate and sent for the purpose of the health of her co-workers.

"[Mazurkiewicz's] email exposed [Northwestern Memorial Hospital's] malfeasance," the complaint alleges. "[Northwestern], through [Patient Care Manager Bridget Wicherek and President Jay Anderson,] terminated [Mazurkiewicz] in order to prevent [her] from speaking out about [the hospital's] malfeasance ... [and] for the purpose of quelling [her] speech."

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The fitted N95 masks — named because they filter a minimum of 95 percent of particles 0.3 micrometers or smaller — create an airtight seal to better filter inhalation than looser surgical masks, which are designed more prevent the wearer from infecting others. Most surgical masks, on the other hand, do not effectively filter small particles or prevent leakage around the edge during inhalation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to a ProPublica investigation, the CDC recently downgraded its guidelines to allow health care workers to use surgical masks instead of N95 masksin many cases. Hospitals around the country have been increasingly rationing the masks, with some warning staff supplies would run out in two weeks if they were not replenished. The investigation found nationwide equipment shortages have left many health care workers worried not only about contracting the coronavirus, but also of infecting patients.

Mazurkiewicz said she was fired because hospital administrators were concerned other nurses might have protested or refused to work without the more-effective masks.

"I sent the email to my co-workers so that they would be protected too, so that they could take care of their patients better, protect their patients better, protect their families better, protect others better," Mazurkiewicz told WLS. "It could have caused a movement, where nurses would demand N95s for the hospital." She told the Chicago Sun-Times she was not even allowed to wear her own N95 mask underneath the hospital-issued one.

Northwestern Medicine spokesperson Christopher King said the safety of its patients and employees is the top priority of the health care system.

"We take these matters seriously and we are currently reviewing the complaint," he said in a statement. "At this time, we will not be commenting further."

Read more: Coronavirus: Protective Gear Shortage Has Medical Workers Fearful Of Infecting Patients