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Adam Ashton

CalMatters

A jury awarded a $16.8 million judgment to a California prison doctor who alleged her employer did not respond appropriately to a threat she received from an incarcerated person, fired her when she raised concerns about her safety, and then defamed her by allowing rumors to spread among staff.

The verdict, reached last week, caps Dr. Beth Fischgrund’s six-year effort to contest her dismissal from Salinas Valley State Prison, where she worked as a contract psychologist beginning in September 2017.

The jury’s decision “was one of the most surreal experiences of my life,” Fischgrund told CalMatters. “I felt like I finally did get validation. It’s been six and a half years. I felt a lo

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