RACINE - A nurse who became overwhelmed with responsibility and suffered from "compassion fatigue" will serve four months in jail and three years probation.

Eileen Lee, 54, of East Troy, was sentenced Friday on one count of neglect of a patient likely to cause bodily harm. She was the wound-care nurse at Mount Carmel Medical and Rehabilitation Center in Burlington in 2005, when William Kurth died from an infection contracted through chronically untreated bedsores. Another patient, Lois Glass, also had serious sores that were not cared for.

A psychotherapist testified at Lee's sentencing hearing, saying that her mental condition in 2005 made it impossible for her to see the realities of the situation before her.

Michael Filipiak said Lee was "kind of like a lost child."

He said Lee "felt pretty much abandoned," and that she regressed to primitive coping mechanisms like minimization, denial and "magically hoping things were not that bad."

The "compassion fatigue" he said Lee suffered from was exacerbated as her responsibilities increased. Lee had been a floor nurse, but in 2005 Mount Carmel added to her responsibilities, putting her in charge of wound care at the facility, a job that used to be covered by a team of five, and making her the assistant, then full director, of nursing.

"She's in the situation of caring for others, it's like a combat medic," he said. "(With compassion

fatigue) they kind of go numb. They start withholding care others need because they can't handle it. In no way did she intend to do this."

Eric Defort, an assistant attorney general for the state of Wisconsin, said Lee must not have seen her patients as people.

"This is an offender who just didn't see the value in these people's lives," he said. "She looked at them as widgets on an assembly line. Take a look at her statement (in the pre-sentence report). She showed no remorse, took no blame and failed to ask for help. I understand that in the course of making hamburgers or rubber stamping something on an assembly line, but not with

human life."

David Kurth, William Kurth's son, said he has forgiven Lee, but the situation is still very difficult for them.

"Lee knowingly ignored my father," David Kurth said. "She hid his illness from us and never came to us with any (information) We could and would have tried to help him and save him. It's hard to make sense of. … We are at this place of anguish because of who he was and how he suffered right before our eyes."

David Kurth and other family members asked the court to make it so Lee can never care for others like this again. That is not within the judge's power, however. He ordered her not to have a job in the health care field for the three years of her probation, but after that, she would be free to reapply for her nursing license and go back to work as a nurse.

William Genarro, Kurth's attorney, said while Lee is the one charged, she is not the only one responsible.

"You talk about water running downhill to a pool at the bottom, Ms. Lee was standing in that pool," he said. "At the time she was supposed to be doing these things there were three shifts of nurses who saw Mr. Kurth, who saw Ms. Glass. Why didn't they see these things? These horrible things? Where is everybody else?"

Lee also addressed the court with a simple and short statement:

"I am deeply sorry and regret the loss of Mr. Kurth and Ms. Glass," she said. "I tried to do a good job as I always have. I was overwhelmed and I did not realize that at the time."

Judge Charles Constantine, in issuing his sentence, said that Genarro "makes a rather compelling argument that Ms. Lee is not the only guilty party in this case."

"I have to sentence Ms. Lee," he said. "She is, in a sense, the face of the nursing home. You have to direct your anger to someone. In this case, Ms. Lee is a person anger is appropriately directed to. Clearly she's not the only responsible party."

He said he did not feel a long prison term was warranted in this case, but some jail time must be served.

"Without some type of jail, the message is sent to other caregivers that there is little consequence," he said. "I understand the jail experience is not real pleasant for anyone. The last few months for Mr. Kurth and Ms. Glass were not pleasant either."

In closing, Constantine said everyone has to be looking out in these situations.

"There may be others out there who are just as responsible," Constantine said. "People do have a duty to speak up. There may be a psychological definition, but that's not enough for the other employees at Mount Carmel that didn't speak up. To me, that's an absolute

disgrace."