TX Nurses facing criminal charges for reporting doctor to Board of Medicine

how can they substantiate harrassment, that would seem to require a pattern of behavior.....one complaint a pattern does not make.......i agree, i think this doc has conections.....and a physical presence, ie demonstration/picketing...may be needed....especially d/t the fact this seems to have been effectively kept out of the media as well, hmm by whom? we might ask.....i would be thinking suit for harrassment from nurse to physician at this point.....he has effectively taken their livelyhood away.....impuned their reputations......etc
since HIPAA is a federal law, where are the feds in this?

yes, i read this, what i want to know is why the Feds havent quashed it, unless Texas has its own law, and that is what the nurses are being cited under?

Why don't we start a letter-writing campaign? Perhaps public pressure will allow them to get charges dropped rather than needing a defense fund? I know I'll be writing a strongly-worded letter!!

From: http://www.co.winkler.tx.us/districtatty.htm:

DISTRICT ATTORNEY
109TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT
Michael L. Fostel, District Attorney
PO BOX 1040
KERMIT, TEXAS 79745

Nurses, be very careful.

I wrote to the Texas State Board, NOT anonymously, about similar concerns at an Indian Health Service hospital in 1999.
After a time I got a thoughtfully worded response from the Texas State Board that gave me the guidance on my concerns that I was seeking.

I wrote to the ANA after I had to pursue the matter farther (right-I got kicked out of my job on the soft section of my back side for voicing complaints, very valid complaints).
I got a thoughtfully worded response from an attorney for the ANA, citing concerns about issues of 'licensure', 'standards of practice', and 'whistle blower issues'.

I fought for three years, I won't bore you with the details.
I won the battle, "this Officer has done absolutely nothing wrong, give her all the remedies she seeks", BUT I lost the war, "I non-concur with this decision", signed, the designee of the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Just like those stories you read about in the National Enquirer of people who have fought for years to have an injustice righted, this battle cost me every dime I had and a house. I really had done nothing wrong, and in fact, I considered myself the only one in the situation in which I found myself who had tried to do the RIGHT thing, in the way we Nurses are taught, and by that I mean, I documented, I approached management, I consulted with my fellow nurses, I sought expert advise from my State Board, I offered to help implement solutions....all to no avail.

After the 'Powers that Be' start taking names and, well, you know what else, these entities, the State Boards and ANA, as well meaning as many of the 'Nurse Advocates' in these organizations are, (in a 'bookish' sort of way), it is NOT going to help you if you get in 'golden flow' contest with the wrong people in powerful positions in a State or US Government position.

I used my own time to write every rebuttal in my three year battle to defend myself. I used my own money to send literally hundreds of pieces of correspondence to back up my claim of innocence.
An attempt to deal with these agencies can turn into a full time job.
The agencies you are trying to battle have staffs, paid people who spend a paid 'duty day' replying to your correspondence, secretaries who write up and send out their replies to you.
When I started my three year battle I asked a Nurse, in a government position of high authority what I should do, I was so frustrated and felt so wronged.
"You shouldn't do anything", she said, "your case has already been decided".
"But I haven't done anything wrong", I protested, "can't I fight this?"
"You can fight if you want to", she said, "but you know what they say, you can't fight City Hall!"

Now, as I view the debris of my career that this ten year battle has left me with (yes, I still make feeble attempts to correct this injustice, even now, a decade later (kind of like a dying Cockroach, when it is still waving it's legs around), I wish I had listened to this Nurse, who, although she was a paid adversary to idiots like myself who think that they can win, just because they are right, was trying to give me good advice.

Nurses, remember your mortgage, your car payment and your families grocery bill, before you get mixed up with a fight started by 'anonymous' Complainants.

I had a similar situation several years ago. I contacted the Department of Health, and spoke witht the senior staff attorney there. He suggested that I contact the "Facilities and Licensing Division", of the Department of Health. There is one is every state.

I also ended up dropping my complaints because I was not convinced it would change anything. These large hospitals have the money, and power to buy what ever support they want. It is sad, but true.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN
Spokane, Washington

Not sure it will do anything; however, I sent messages to national news agencies such as Fox news. If this can receive mainstream media attention, perhaps the outcome will be better.

by AP, 07/18/2009

Two West Texas nurses have been indicted after filing an anonymous complaint about a doctor's practices with the Texas Medical Board, but the state agency says the women did nothing wrong.

The nurses are charged with misuse of official information. Each one-page indictment filed against them alleges they improperly accessed information that was not public "with intent to harm" the doctor for "a nongovernmental purpose."

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