In what may be an unprecedented prosecution, nurse Anne Mitchell is scheduled to stand trial in Texas Monday for “misuse of official information,” a third-degree felony, the New York Times reports. A prosecutor said 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. Mitchell counters that 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 Arafiles performed in the emergency room, without surgical privileges.
When the medical board notified 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 two nurses’ work computers. State and national nurses associations called the prosecution an outrage and raised $40,000 for the defense. To me, this is completely over the top,” said Louis Clark of the Government Accountability Project, a group that promotes the defense of whistle-blowers. “It seems really, really unique.”
Posted by GeorgiaGirl
Tuesday, February 09, 2010 06:14
And the sheriff is also a business partner of the doctor, in an herbal supplement business.
The doctor did not have surgical privileges at that hospital, and that is a major violation if someone performs surgery without privileges. If the hospital wasn’t doing anything about it, she is required to report it to the medical board. The doctor had previously been fined by the state medical board for problems, and the hospital recruited him anyway.
Posted by canuckboy
Monday, February 08, 2010 01:33
Hey John
Let’s guess, you a good ol’ boy…another patient, nephew, second cousin, fishin’ buddy with the sheriff there, right?
Be careful, your woeful ignorance on so many dimensions is making small town Texas fit the stereotype.
Posted by Charlie Brown
Monday, February 08, 2010 12:15
Hear Hear Yoko Mama very well said and thank you for this. John, or Liz on other blogs with the same post, I can only tell you that you are so very wrong. It is obvious that you do know the physician in question, so do I. For many years actually and I can tell you that he has always practiced with a somewhat odd style and has at times achieved new levels of quackery. The inaptness of this physician is known to many of his colleagues and nurses that have practiced emergency medicine for years. It is by luck that the 2 nurses in Kermit where in the right position to see the big picture and hopefully will finally put an end to this physicians license. He is a danger to society and a disgrace to the profession.
Posted by Yoko Mama
Sunday, February 07, 2010 07:06
“Admin” or “typist” nurse? These are experienced Registered Nurses who were promoted to these positions of increased responsibility and oversight by virtue of their record of performance, education and experience. Maybe you should take a look at the job descriptions and responsibilities associated with these positions. Their initial education was the same as a Registered Nurse who provides direct patient care – they just advanced/moved to another type of RN position, with different responsibilities. They actually had an even better vantage point and more supporting information for advancing the concerns of the nurses who did provide direct care to this quack’s patients.
Your comment marginalizes the right of any patient (including your own family members) to be treated by a competent and law-abiding physician.
Posted by john
Sunday, February 07, 2010 01:21
The woman is not even a real nurse, she is an admin nurse, those who type and checks medicare eligibility.
The rubber suture was a temporary fix. THe doctor is US licensed, had previously practiced in other US hospitals, FOR YEARS.
People are calling him now a quack because of the ramblings of a typist nurse who writes ghost letters so someone who worked all his life be deduced to a ‘quack’.
She wants someone to lose his license, something the guy worked for all his life. Now that she was outed, she is now playing hero – claiming she just wants to save the world.
How can you be a hero if you are out to destroy someone’s reputation and livelihood?
The guy has saved lots of lives, hasnt lost one. Yet the woman is out to destroy him. Now is that heroism to you?
Posted by Stephen Giannetti
Sunday, February 07, 2010 12:38
How can this happen, what about conflict of interest…(Sheriff is a patient of the doc)?
What about the rights of the patients the nurses are charged with protecting in their roles of oversight at the hospital?
Where is the hospital board in protecting the rights of patients, of the responsibility to monitor all of the professionals?
Where are the brains of the administrator for hiring a doctor with challenges to his ethics, credibility, and blemishes on his credentials?
This story needs more exposure.