West Texas doctor arrested, accused of retaliating against nurses

[somone]

http://www.mywesttexas.com/top_stories/article_e6c4f6e6-0e2c-11e0-89bd-001cc4c03286.html

West Texas doctor arrested, accused of retaliating against nurses
By Kevin Sack

Texas officials have filed criminal charges against a West Texas physician over accusations that they say he orchestrated against two nurses who had filed a complaint against him with the state medical board. The physician, Dr. Rolando G. Arafiles Jr., who practices at Winkler County Memorial Hospital in Kermit, Texas, was charged late Tuesday by the state attorney general’s office with retaliation and misuse of official information, the latter being the same charge that was leveled against the nurses. Both of the charges against Arafiles are third-degree felonies that carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

In a case that alarmed advocates for whistle-blower protections, the two nurses were fired by the hospital and prosecuted in 2009 after anonymously reporting Arafiles for a variety of surgical and prescribing practices. After learning of the Texas Medical Board investigation, Arafiles consulted the sheriff in Winkler County, a personal friend, who seized the nurses’ computers and found their letter to the board, which included patient case numbers. Kermit, a town of 7,000 people about 400 miles west of Dallas, is the county seat.

The charge against one of the nurses, Vickilyn Galle, was dropped before trial. A jury took less than an hour to acquit the other nurse, Anne Mitchell, in February. The nurses agreed this summer to split a $750,000 financial settlement from the county.

The medical board has already charged Arafiles, 58, with a number of civil violations related to the substandard care the nurses described. He is accused of suturing a rubber scissor tip to a patient’s finger, using an unapproved olive oil solution on a patient with a highly resistant bacterial infection, failing to diagnose a case of appendicitis and conducting a skin graft without surgical privileges...

[Ilsa]

1. I'm so glad the tide has finally turned against this man.

Nurses in Texas have been following These cases for several years. It's is a relief that the nurses have received justice and he is being prosecuted for his retaliation.

I'm not certain, but he might have been in practice in our small city, hundreds of miles away.

[w8liftinglady]

2. he sounds like a doc I knew in Abilene.

I'm glad these nurses finally found justice.There was a severe punishment brought forth against them for their whistleblowing.Texas is "a little" backwards in that department.

[lonestarnot]

3. A sheriff. Hmmmf!

[dgibby]

4. That sheriff should be charged, as well. n/t

[old mark]

5. It's very hard to do anything about a bad doctor. I applaud these brave nurses and

I hope they serve as an example to others.

mark

[hootinholler]

6. How the fuck can you suture a scissors tip to someone?

:shrug:

-Hoot