A chief psychiatrist who was fired from his job at Valley Medical Center four years ago was awarded $1.5 million in damages this week for wrongful termination, according to a firm representing his attorneys.
Dr. Jan Weber, who headed the hospital’s child and adolescent psychiatry division for five-and-a-half years, was let go by the county in late 2014 upon complaining about unsafe work conditions and young patients at the facility receiving substandard care over a five-year span. At the time, the 49-year-old Weber was tasked with supervising roughly eight psychiatrists in the mental health department.
On Wednesday, following a three-week-long trial that saw testimonies from County Executive Jeff Smith and Valley Med’s chair of psychiatry, Dr. Michael Meade, a Santa Clara County jury held the county liable for Weber’s past and future financial loss and emotional distress, according to a statement from the Asbury PR Agency on behalf of Weber’s attorneys at Bohm Law Group, Inc.
