Whistleblower awarded $450,000

ATLANTA, Aug. 28 (UPI) -- A Georgia woman expelled from nursing school 13 weeks before graduation will receive $450,000 for her ordeal, a jury has decided.

Sara Castle, 55, was thrown out of Appalachian Technical College in Jasper, Ga., after she blew the whistle on an instructor who wasn't providing students with sufficient clinical training time, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Friday.

Castle said she and the other students would arrive early in the morning for their clinical training but the instructor would dismiss them by 8 a.m.

Castle said when she told college administrators what was happening, they fired the instructor and then expelled her.

After two days of testimony, it took the jury less than an hour to award Castle $400,000 in punitive damages and $50,000 for emotional injuries, said her attorney, James Satcher.