A Texas sheriff was found guilty this week of retaliating against two registered nurses who had reported patient care concerns about a physician at Winkler County Memorial Hospital in Kermit, Texas.
“Justice has been served with the jury’s guilty on-all-counts verdict for Sheriff Roberts,” said Clair Jordan, MSN, RN, executive director of the Texas Nurses Association, in a statement released about the verdict. “When the safety and rights of patients are threatened, nurses must be able to speak out for them without fear of retaliation. This verdict affirms that retaliation against a nurse for patient advocacy efforts won’t be tolerated and those who do will be held fully accountable.”
Anne Mitchell and Vicki Galle, TNA members, lost their jobs at Winkler County Memorial Hospital and faced criminal charges of misuse of official information when they reported a physician, Rolando Arafiles, Jr., to the Texas Medical Board over patient safety concerns. Charges were later dropped against Galle and a jury found Mitchell not guilty.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram said the nurses then sued the county, the hospital, Sheriff Roberts and other officials saying that their First Amendment rights had been violated and they had been subject to vindictive prosecution. Their suits resulted in a $750,000 settlement.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that the nurses sent an unsigned letter to the medical board in 2009 saying that the doctor was using herbal remedies and was trying to use hospital supplies to do at-home procedures.
Prosecutors said that when Arafiles learned of the complaint, he asked his friend, Robert L. Roberts, Jr., Winkler County sheriff, to find out who sent the letter.
Roberts was convicted of retaliation and misuse of official information, both felonies, and official oppression, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to four years of felony probation and 100 days in jail on the official information and retaliation charges, and fined $6,000. He has been removed from his position as county sheriff.
Trials for Arafiles and Winkler County attorney, Scott Tidwell, are still pending. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram says the pair have denied wrongdoing and Arafiles has been placed on four years’ probation by the Texas Medical Board.