The nurse practitioner does not dispute that her lack of a collaborative agreement with a physician was a valid reason for the hospital to refuse to allow her to continue working. UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT ILLINOIS August 21, 2018

  A minority nurse practitioner worked at several locations within the Veterans Administration health system until her collaborative physician terminated his agreement with her, leaving her with no collaborative physician as required by law.  That meant her employer had no alternative but to terminate her employment.  After her termination she sued the Veterans Administration for race discrimination.  Her termination came after an unfavorable performance rating by her non-physician supervisor, whom the nurse practitioner later accused in her lawsuit of racial bias toward her.  

  The US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed the nurse practitioner’s case.  The nurse practitioner had no proof her non-physician supervisor’s performance review was inaccurate or biased.  Having no physician collaborative agreement is a legitimate nondiscriminatory reason to discontinue a nurse practitioner’s employment, the Court ruled.  

  The nurse practitioner offered no solid explanation why her last collaborative physician terminated his agreement with her. For her discrimination lawsuit the nurse practitioner needed proof of racial bias in the physician’s action.  She only insinuated that the physician was friends with another physician with whom she did not get along, which was not evidence of racial bias for her case. Sledge v. VA, 2018 WL 3993789 (N.D. Ill., August 21, 2018).

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