I just mentioned an incident where a quack ‘doctor’ was selling herbal remedies and other non-procedure procedures to his patients. Here is the full story. (And here is the summary I’m going to use.)
In Kermit, a small Texas town, two nurses at local hospital became concerned about the practices of one of the physicians, Dr. Rolando G. Arafiles, Jr. Among the alleged practices were the improper peddling of herbal medicines to hospital patients, and the performance of (sometimes unorthodox) surgical procedures without the appropriate privileges to do so. Anne Mitchell, RN, the nurse against whom charges are still filed, went to the hospital with her concerns and was fired, an act for which state reprimanded the hospital. Given the lack of response from the hospital, she went to the state medical board. When Dr. Arafiles found out that there was a complaint against him, he went to a local sheriff buddy of his, who tracked down the confidential report to the state medical board, and used the information in it to deduce the identity of the filers.
And then he charged them with a crime.
The crime was some trumped-up malarkey about misuse of information done in bad faith. It’s absolutely infuriating to read about this; some charlatan gets called out for being a charlatan, so he throws a hissy fit and brings down disproportional weight upon the person who is actually right. Do read the whole article to really see how crappy small-town Texas can be.
Fortunately, the trial has concluded.
But after a four-day trial in Andrews, Tex., a state court jury quickly found that the nurse, Anne Mitchell, was not guilty of the third-degree felony charge of “misuse of official information.” Conviction could have carried a prison sentence of up to 10 years and a fine of up to $10,000.
…
The jury foreman said the panel of six men and six women voted unanimously on the first ballot, and questioned why Mrs. Mitchell had ever been arrested.
Okay, so I want to amend my previous statement: Small town Texas authorities can be pretty awful. The members of the jury were entirely reasonable and rational. Oh, and they didn’t act like infants afterward:
Sheriff Roberts said he was disappointed in the verdict but did not regret the prosecution.
“The defense had to spin this as a reporting issue, that nurses were not going to be able to report bad medical care, and it’s never been that,” he said. “We encourage people to report bad medical care. But I encourage public servants to report it properly.”
She did report it properly, jackass. The only improper action here is from Roberts. He acted on behalf of a friend to ruin someone’s life. He should be removed from his position and prosecuted himself.
Filed under: News | Tagged: Anne Mitchell, Dr. Arafiles, Sheriff Robert L. Roberts Jr. | Leave a comment »
For the Sake of Science 