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Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice |
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Posted by trainsarefun on Sun Feb 7 11:41:51 2010 NYT story here.Texas-sized hypocrisy. February 7, 2010 Nurse to Stand Trial for Reporting Doctor By KEVIN SACK KERMIT, Tex. — It occurred to Anne Mitchell as she was writing the letter that she might lose her job, which is why she chose not to sign it. But it was beyond her conception that she would be indicted and threatened with 10 years in prison for doing what she knew a nurse must: inform state regulators that a doctor at her rural hospital was practicing bad medicine. When she was fingerprinted and photographed at the jail here last June, it felt as if she had entered a parallel universe, albeit one situated in this barren scrap of West Texas oil patch. “It was surreal,” said Mrs. Mitchell, 52, the wife of an oil field mechanic and mother of a teenage son. “I said how can this be? You can’t go to prison for doing the right thing.” But in what may be an unprecedented prosecution, Mrs. Mitchell is scheduled to stand trial in state court on Monday for “misuse of official information,” a third-degree felony in Texas. The prosecutor said he would show that Mrs. Mitchell had a history of making “inflammatory” statements about Dr. Rolando G. Arafiles Jr. and intended to damage his reputation when she reported him last April to the Texas Medical Board, which licenses and disciplines doctors. Mrs. Mitchell counters that as an administrative nurse, she had a professional obligation to protect patients from what she saw as a pattern of improper prescribing and surgical procedures — including a failed skin graft that Dr. Arafiles performed in the emergency room, without surgical privileges. He also sutured a rubber tip to a patient’s crushed finger for protection, an unconventional remedy that was later flagged as inappropriate by the Texas Department of State Health Services. Charges against a second nurse, Vickilyn Galle, who helped Mrs. Mitchell write the letter, were dismissed at the prosecutor’s discretion last week. The case has been infused with the small-town politics of this wind-whipped city of 5,200 in the heart of the Permian Basin, 10 miles from the New Mexico border. .... When the medical board notified Dr. Arafiles of the anonymous complaint, he protested to his friend, the Winkler County sheriff, that he was being harassed. The sheriff, an admiring patient who credits the doctor with saving him after a heart attack, obtained a search warrant to seize the two nurses’ work computers and found the letter. .... The state and national nurses associations have called the prosecution an outrage and raised $40,000 for the defense. Legal experts argue that in a civil context, Mrs. Mitchell would seem to be protected by Texas whistle-blower laws. .... Until they were fired without explanation on June 1, Mrs. Mitchell and Mrs. Galle had worked a combined 47 years at Winkler County Memorial Hospital here, most recently as its compliance and quality improvement officers. The nurses, who are highly regarded even by the administrator who dismissed them, said the case had stained their reputations and drained their savings. With felony charges pending, neither has been able to find work.... “It has derailed our careers, and we’re probably not going to be able to get them back on track again,” said Mrs. Galle, 54, a grandmother who is depicted around town as the soft-spoken Thelma to Mrs. Mitchell’s straight-shooting Louise. “We’re just in disbelief that you could be arrested for doing something you had been told your whole career was an obligation.” It was not long after the public hospital hired Dr. Arafiles in 2008 that the nurses said they began to worry. They sounded internal alarms but felt they were not being heeded by administrators. Frustrated and fearing for patients, they directed the medical board to six cases “of concern” that were identified by file numbers but not by patient names. The letter also mentioned that Dr. Arafiles was sending e-mail messages to patients about an herbal supplement he sold on the side. Mrs. Mitchell typed the letter and mailed it with a separate complaint signed by a third nurse, who wrote that she had resigned because of similar concerns about Dr. Arafiles. That nurse was not charged. .... Mari E. Robinson, executive director of the Texas Medical Board, has warned in a blistering letter to prosecutors that the case will have “a significant chilling effect” on the reporting of malpractice. The nurses’ lawyers, John H. Cook IV and Brian Carney, have filed a civil lawsuit in federal court charging the county, hospital, sheriff, doctor and prosecutor with vindictive prosecution and denial of the nurses’ First Amendment rights. Nonetheless, the sheriff, Robert L. Roberts Jr., and the prosecutor, Scott M. Tidwell, express confidence in their case. .... Dr. Arafiles, 47, who attended medical school in his native Philippines and trained in Baltimore and Buffalo, said his lawyer had advised him not to talk. “I’ve been brutalized and abused,” he said. “I’m the victim in this case, and that is all I can say.” Several Texas laws would seem to enshrine a nurse’s right, and perhaps duty, to report a physician when he or she believes that patients are at risk. Lawyers on both sides agree that the case will hinge on whether a jury believes that Mrs. Mitchell reported in good faith. In civil whistle-blower cases, the Supreme Court of Texas has held that good faith requires only a reasonable belief that the conduct being reported is illegal. The hospital administrator, Stan Wiley, said in an interview that Dr. Arafiles had been reprimanded on several occasions for improprieties in writing prescriptions and performing surgery and had agreed to make changes. Mr. Wiley, who said it was difficult to recruit physicians to remote West Texas, said he knew when he hired Dr. Arafiles that he had a restriction on his license stemming from his supervision of a weight-loss clinic. In a surprise inspection last September, state investigators found several violations by Dr. Arafiles and concluded that the hospital had discriminated against the nurses by firing them for “reporting in good faith.” But Sheriff Roberts, who has held the post for 18 years, said the state would show that the complaint had been filed in vengeance. “If it’s made to destroy somebody’s reputation or forcing them to leave town,” he said, “then I don’t believe it is good faith.” Sheriff Roberts called Dr. Arafiles “the most sincerely caring person I have ever met.” .... Mrs. Mitchell said all she saw at the hospital was delay. “The medical staff needed to make a decision on him,” she said. “You don’t get a second chance to save somebody’s life.” |
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Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice |
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Posted by JayZeeBMT on Sun Feb 7 11:52:36 2010, in response to Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice, posted by trainsarefun on Sun Feb 7 11:41:51 2010. Bizarro World! |
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Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice |
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Posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Sun Feb 7 12:00:37 2010, in response to Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice, posted by trainsarefun on Sun Feb 7 11:41:51 2010. Hmmmm, a NYT story about an incident in Texas.....I'll reserve judgment until I have all the facts. |
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Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice |
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Posted by Easy on Sun Feb 7 12:02:37 2010, in response to Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice, posted by trainsarefun on Sun Feb 7 11:41:51 2010. Every hospital has sub par doctors, but nurses can't engage in harassment to get them removed. They complained to the proper hospital authorities who disagreed with their conclusion. They should have left it at that. That being said, they should have only been fired, not prosecuted. |
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Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice |
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Posted by trainsarefun on Sun Feb 7 12:08:22 2010, in response to Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice, posted by Easy on Sun Feb 7 12:02:37 2010. They complained to the proper hospital authorities who disagreed with their conclusion. They should have left it at that.What stops the nurses from reporting what they reasonably believe to be manifest unprofessionalism and malpractice to the state's medical board? This sounds like fairly serious stuff: a pattern of improper prescribing and surgical procedures — including a failed skin graft that Dr. Arafiles performed in the emergency room, without surgical privileges. He also sutured a rubber tip to a patient’s crushed finger for protection, an unconventional remedy that was later flagged as inappropriate by the Texas Department of State Health Services. ... The letter also mentioned that Dr. Arafiles was sending e-mail messages to patients about an herbal supplement he sold on the side. Mrs. Mitchell typed the letter and mailed it with a separate complaint signed by a third nurse, who wrote that she had resigned because of similar concerns about Dr. Arafiles. The hospital administrator, Stan Wiley, said in an interview that Dr. Arafiles had been reprimanded on several occasions for improprieties in writing prescriptions and performing surgery and had agreed to make changes. Mr. Wiley, who said it was difficult to recruit physicians to remote West Texas, said he knew when he hired Dr. Arafiles that he had a restriction on his license stemming from his supervision of a weight-loss clinic. In a surprise inspection last September, state investigators found several violations by Dr. Arafiles and concluded that the hospital had discriminated against the nurses by firing them for “reporting in good faith.” Sounds like cronyism between the Sheriff and his physician. |
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Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice |
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Posted by Easy on Sun Feb 7 12:16:00 2010, in response to Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice, posted by trainsarefun on Sun Feb 7 12:08:22 2010. They reported these incidents through the proper channels and they were obviously investigated as one of them was found to be inappropriate. That's where it ends. |
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Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice |
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Posted by trainsarefun on Sun Feb 7 12:37:43 2010, in response to Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Sun Feb 7 12:00:37 2010. Hmmmm, a NYT story about an incident in Texas.....They do have a national section, you know. I'll reserve judgment until I have all the facts. Imagine that! :) |
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Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice |
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Posted by BrooklynBus on Sun Feb 7 12:52:08 2010, in response to Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice, posted by Easy on Sun Feb 7 12:02:37 2010. Did I miss something? I didn't see to whom she reported the doctor too. (I'm assuming it was the health authorities.) Where does it say that the "authorities" disagreed with her conclusions? Sounds like she had evidence. If the hospital disagreed, that shouldn't matter and what were their grounds for firing her if her intentions were good? |
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Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice |
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Posted by Orange Blossom Special on Sun Feb 7 12:54:05 2010, in response to Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Sun Feb 7 12:00:37 2010. yea, imagine all the unanswered questions they didn't cut and paste.Texas is rather odd in it's medical and insurance laws though. not as bad as NY but they claim to be pretty strict for some odd reason. |
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Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice |
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Posted by Easy on Sun Feb 7 13:10:57 2010, in response to Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice, posted by BrooklynBus on Sun Feb 7 12:52:08 2010. Yes, you missed where one of her complaints was investigated by the Texas Department of Health Services and was only flagged "inappropriate". There was no penalty and certainly no need for the doctor to be fired. Based on that finding my presumption is that all of her complaints were similarly investigated. However the article isn't clear on that matter. |
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Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice |
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Posted by BrooklynBus on Sun Feb 7 18:20:06 2010, in response to Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice, posted by Easy on Sun Feb 7 13:10:57 2010. Are we reading the same article? It says that he sutured a rubber tip to a patient’s crushed finger for protection, an unconventional remedy that was later flagged as inappropriate. So maybe that wasn't serious and no penalty was necessary. But what about the failed skin graft that Dr. Arafiles performed in the emergency room, without surgical privileges? Isn't that serious? Why is he operating when he was not cleared to do so?Whether the charges were serious or not is not even the point. The point is that someone shouldn't lose their job by merely reporting activity that should not be going on, if it was reported in good faith. And if it turns out what she reported is correct, she should even be rewarded for doing the correct thing, and the doctor should be punished. Even if they find the doctor did nothing wrong, she is still out of a job and stuck with a huge legal bill and that just doesn't seem fair. |
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Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice |
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Posted by salaamallah@hotmail.com on Sun Feb 7 18:22:32 2010, in response to Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice, posted by trainsarefun on Sun Feb 7 11:41:51 2010. I dont see a case against this nurse at alldo you ? |
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Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice |
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Posted by Easy on Sun Feb 7 18:30:15 2010, in response to Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice, posted by BrooklynBus on Sun Feb 7 18:20:06 2010. We are reading the same article but you aren't reading between the lines. He was flagged because the nurse reported it. They investigated and all they did was flag it. I don't know what "flagging" implies, but it seems less than a warning. It's like they "noted" it as unusual and less than good practice. And if the medical board investigated that, they likely investigated all of her claims. |
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Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice |
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Posted by Mr Mabstoa on Sun Feb 7 18:52:19 2010, in response to Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice, posted by salaamallah@hotmail.com on Sun Feb 7 18:22:32 2010. Maybe she will help you find a doctor like you postedhere! LOL! |
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Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice |
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Posted by AMoreira81 on Sun Feb 7 18:55:25 2010, in response to Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Sun Feb 7 12:00:37 2010. You just used a Saul Alinsky strategy---hypocrite. |
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Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice |
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Posted by BrooklynBus on Sun Feb 7 19:37:13 2010, in response to Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice, posted by Easy on Sun Feb 7 18:30:15 2010. Okay, but that doesn't seem to be the most serious thing he is accused of doing. Given the vagueness of the article, the fact that the nurse was fired which wasn't warranted in any case, and the political implications (the sheriff's good experience with the doctor), I wouldn't just assume that everything was investigated. |
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Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice |
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Posted by Easy on Sun Feb 7 20:10:10 2010, in response to Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice, posted by BrooklynBus on Sun Feb 7 19:37:13 2010. I would. I would think that the police/DA would have to determine whether the charges were malicious before charging them. The only way that they would know that if they had been investigated. |
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Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice |
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Posted by Easy on Sun Feb 7 20:11:06 2010, in response to Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice, posted by Easy on Sun Feb 7 20:10:10 2010. But I agree that it's vague. That should certainly be part of the story one way or the other. |
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Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice |
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Posted by BrooklynBus on Sun Feb 7 20:53:46 2010, in response to Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice, posted by salaamallah@hotmail.com on Sun Feb 7 18:22:32 2010. I don't either. If there is a case against anyone, it is the doctor. |
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Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice |
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Posted by salaamallah@hotmail.com on Sun Feb 7 21:18:30 2010, in response to Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice, posted by BrooklynBus on Sun Feb 7 20:53:46 2010. yes |
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Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice |
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Posted by Kew Gardens Teleport on Mon Feb 8 18:21:39 2010, in response to Re: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice, posted by trainsarefun on Sun Feb 7 12:08:22 2010. Sounds like cronyism between the Sheriff and his physician.Yep. And it sounds like any reasonable court would award exemplary damages against the Sheriff personally. Even in Texas. |
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Acquitted: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice |
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Posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Thu Feb 11 21:43:05 2010, in response to Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice, posted by trainsarefun on Sun Feb 7 11:41:51 2010. http://gruntdoc.com/2010/02/winkler-county-nurse-found-not-guilty.html |
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Re: Acquitted: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice |
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Posted by trainsarefun on Thu Feb 11 21:58:27 2010, in response to Acquitted: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Thu Feb 11 21:43:05 2010. At least the jurors had sense. Less than an hour to render the not guilty verdict. Thanks for the update. |
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Re: Acquitted: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice |
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Posted by SelkirkTMO on Thu Feb 11 21:59:40 2010, in response to Acquitted: Nurse to stand trial for reporting physician's malpractice, posted by Chris R16/R2730 on Thu Feb 11 21:43:05 2010. Good! :) |
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