Jessica Thorpe, a nurse in England, was investigated and suspended for two years after a male patient at the psychiatric hospital where she worked claimed that he had made her pregnant. One year after the allegations surfaced, it was learned during a hearing in July 2021 that Patient X had passed away. The court dismissed the misconduct allegation due to the lack of "conclusive evidence." However, Thorpe was informed that she could not return to work until the police investigation regarding the patient's death was completed. Thorpe was only informed in October 2022 that she could return to her position, but she resigned a month later. During this time, Thorpe opened a food account on Instagram called "Slice of Jess," gaining over 50,000 followers. The nurse, who also started producing content on YouTube, saw her income from Google rise from £4,211 in 2021 to £19,222 in 2023. The hospital management claimed that Thorpe resigned for her social media career. However, Thorpe stated that she only started content creation as a hobby during her time off and that the real reason for her resignation was the management's failure to intervene in the rumors spreading among her colleagues. Judge Simon Loy acknowledged that Thorpe's social media career influenced her decision to resign, but found the hospital management's attitude after the disciplinary hearing to be unjust. The court ruled in favor of Thorpe's claims of wrongful dismissal, breach of contract, and illegal wage deductions, stating that the amount of compensation would be determined in a subsequent hearing.
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