Former Augusta University Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer Laura Brower has succeeded in her attempt to win back her reputation as Augusta University has agreed to revise her employment records and pay her a hefty severance.
Brower was terminated in late December from Augusta University under the charge of “gross negligence.”
Sources close to the situation at the time said they witnessed Brower being led out of the building by campus security guards.
Brower was, and still is, bound by a non-disclosure agreement she signed when she accepted employment with Augusta University, so she could not defend herself in public, even though rumors were spreading that perhaps as chief nursing officer, some decision she made might have resulted a death.
The speculation was caused primarily by the “gross negligence” wording in the termination documents. Multiple sources, who wished not to be identified, reported they were told not to speak to anyone about the termination, furthering speculation that Brower must have done something terribly wrong.
In settlement documents obtained by an open records request, the university comes close to admitting that Brower was damaged by her termination. The school has agreed to make amends to the tune of $382,824. It also has agreed to pay her attorney fees.
One person in particular who was stunned by the termination is Lucy Marion, the retired dean of the School of Nursing.
“She was a rock star. In my time, she was outstanding. She took what was a far backward nursing workforce and leadership to almost getting the top honor we have in the profession and that is magnet status for the hospital,” Marion said.
A flurry of emails regarding the matter, obtained through an open records request, lead directly to the Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for AU Health System, Dr. Phillip Coule.
According to the emails, Coule disagreed with Brower’s policy on limiting “sitters,” who are caregivers that provide companionship to certain at-risk patients. This decision by Brower came at a time when the hospital was continuing to review policy in response to the Covid pandemic.
Coule also complained that Brower had excluded physicians in bed management and criticized her communication skills with Coule’s physician staff when it came to “clinical outcomes.”
However, nothing in any of the documentation provided by Augusta University indicates any decisions or behavior of Brower that would rise to the level of “gross negligence.” In fact, Coule never uses the phrase in his email.
In the final settlement, the hospital was not forced to make any concessions about the validity of its prior statements, but Brower’s departure is no longer listed as a termination, but a resignation.
Brower, a Mississippi Nursing Hall of Fame inductee, says that she would never speak ill of the university even without the non-disclosure agreement.
“I can only speak to my record, which is spotless. I love Augusta University and I had a lot of my life invested there. I worked with wonderful people. I am just happy to have all of this resolved so that I can move on,” Brower said.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
