We’ve mentioned before that when it comes to civil justice, Texas, with its draconian caps, represents some incredibly rough country, especially with respect to those injured by medical malpractice. Is it any wonder then, given what we know about medical malpractice suits helping to make us all safer, that Texas ranks among the worst in the nation in “quality of patient care”? While you’re pondering that, brace yourself, because believe it or not, the state of patient safety in Texas has recently become even worse.
That’s because two nurses who were concerned enough about a doctor’s practices that they wrote an anonymous “whistleblower” letter to the Texas Medical Board about it, are now facing “up to 10 years in prison after being indicted on charges of misuse of official information.”
In the letter, the nurses complained (among other things) that the doctor in question encouraged patients to buy herbal medicines from him, and that the he had attempted to use hospital supplies to perform a procedure at a patient’s home. The letter also included medical record numbers of the effected patients (though no names were used).
Following the board’s receipt (and the doctor’s notification) of the nurses’ letter, the doctor filed a harassment complaint with the Winkler County Sheriff’s Department. The Sheriff’s department, in turn, “initiated an investigation that resulted in criminal charges against both nurses.” Both nurses have also since been fired.
"It's outrageous to file criminal felony charges against these nurses based on allegations that they raised concerns over a physician's action," said American Nurses Association (ANA) president, Rebecca Patton. "Nurses have a duty to advocate for the health and safety of their patients, and that is what these nurses were doing."
The Texas Nursing Association (TNA), the state affiliate of the ANA, has established a legal defense fund for the nurses and hopes to raise $10,000 for their defense. The Texas Medical Board has also registered an objection with county and district attorneys.
“No nurse should be penalized because he or she is advocating for patient safety,” said Claire Jordan, executive director of the TNA.
Reminds us of another item we came across a few years ago, reported in Reuters, about a study that found, “[e]ighty percent of U.S. doctors and half of nurses surveyed said they had seen colleagues make mistakes, but only 10 percent ever spoke up.” Moreover, “fifty percent of nurses said they have colleagues who appear incompetent” and “[e]ighty-four percent of physicians and 62 percent of nurses and other clinical care providers have seen co-workers taking shortcuts that could be dangerous to patients.” Doctors and nurses do not talk about these problems because “people fear confrontation, lack time or feel it is not their job.”
I guess we'll now have to add "fear of being indicted" to that list.
Comments