There is a whole lotta crazy that goes on in Texas. I've mentioned before that the zone I live in takes on Orwellian aspects at times, what with all the double-speak from various Texas state agencies that are supposed to be protecting the people and the environment.But it's not just my zone of Texas. A whole lotta crazy comes out of this little town in far West Texas, called Kermit.
Gar the Texan is from Kermit. That's one example. Sheriff Robert L. Roberts Jr., that's him in the picture, is another example of crazy coming out of Kermit.
There is this medical thing called the Hippocratic Oath, that's an oath medical type people take in which they pledge, among other things, to do no harm to patients.
Well, the Hippocratic Oath has been turned upside down in Kermit. A doctor in Kermit, Rolando G. Arafiles Jr., was doing bad things, like doing a skin graft, that failed, in an emergency room where he did not have surgical privileges. Another time Arafiles sutured a rubber tip to a patient's finger, an unorthodox procedure which was deemed inappropriate by the Texas Department of State Health Services.
A nurse, Anne Mitchell, had seen enough of what she believed to be Arafiles' bad medicine. She and a fellow nurse, Vickilyn Galle, sent a letter detailing the bad medicine they had witnessed, to state regulators.
That letter set in motion a bizarre chain of events that now has the good nurse indicted, facing 10 years in prison, for being true to the Hippocratic Oath. Nurse Mitchell is set to stand trial in state court on Monday for "misuse of official information." Whatever that is, it is a 3rd-degree felony in Texas.
The state prosecutor claims he will show that Nurse Mitchell had a history of making inflammatory statements about Dr. Arafiles, intending to damage his reputation, when she reported him to the Texas Medical Board, last April.
Nurse Mitchell, on the other hand, she being a voice of sanity in the troubled town of Kermit, said she had a professional obligation to protect patients from what she saw was a pattern of improper prescribing and surgical procedures.
Charges were dropped against co-letter writer, Nurse Galle.
When the medical board told Dr. Arafiles about the anonymous complaint, he complained to a friend that he was being harassed by a pair of nurses. Arafiles' friend happened to be Winkler County Sheriff, Robert L. Roberts Jr., who credits Arafiles with saving his life, after a heart attack.
Sheriff Roberts showed his appreciation of the bad doctor's good work, in his case, by obtaining a search warrant to seize the 2 nurses' work computers, where he found the evidence of their crime. That being the whistle blowing letter their consciences told them to write, which they felt they were free to do, living, as they do, or so they thought, in the land of the free.
No one had told the nurses they were not living in the land of the free, they were living in Orwellian Texas. It's a totally different country from the rest of America.
Obviously, this has been an extremely twisted nightmare that has been visited upon these nurses. State and national nurses associations have raised over $40,000 for the defense. Legal experts, operating outside of the Malice in Blunderland zone, say Nurse Mitchell would seem to be protected by Texas whistle-blower laws.
The nurses' lawyers have filled a civil suit in federal court charging the county, hospital, sheriff, doctor and prosecutor with vindictive prosecution and denial of the nurses' First Amendment free speech rights.
Nurse Mitchell's co-conspirator, Nurse Galle, said, "We're just in disbelief that you could be arrested for doing something you had been told your whole career was an obligation."
Nurse Galle, it's not just you and Nurse Mitchell who are shaking their heads in disbelief, heads are shaking in disbelief all over America and the world, over the latest scary stuff to come out of Texas, that common sense would seem to dictate would, should never happen.
But, somehow does.
UPDATE: Video of Dr. Arafiles. Watch it and ask yourself if you want him operating on you.
UPDATE: Read the Texas Medical Board document regarding 2007 malpractice charges against Kermit Dr. Arafiles.
25 comments:
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?
The Constitution only, we hope at least, protects us from government oppression. It does not protect us from US corporate rule and it needs to be rewritten. It's a way outdated document and lately it fails us more than helps us. Though in this case isn't a small town sheriff a part of the government?
Yes, I'm shaking my head at this all the way in Merced, Cali! I hope this doctor's license is revoked and the sheriff is fired, both for bullying this upstanding citizen! IT'S JuST NOT RIGHT! BTW, I read this on the NYTimes and was OuTRAGED, to say the least!!!
This "Sheriff" is what makes the rest of the country laugh out loud at Texas "Justice". Of course it also helps to explain W.
I really think you owe me an apology.
Why darlin' how come you didn't ask me for the scoop? I mean, I do live only 7 miles from Kermit and used to work for that little miserable po dunk of a hospital.
You think conflict of interest is bad with Mayor Mikey, you should check out the hospital board. You tell me, can a member on the board also contract all plumbing for the hospital to himself (he owns a plumbing company...Jimenez)? Or how about another member of the board being given the contract to provide all paper supplies, yep...you guessed it, this member owns a office depot type store.
When they put out the vote to pass a bond for the hospital for remodeling...I voted NO! I wanted them to shut the thing down, it can't handle anything remotely serious. People's lives are in more danger when they have to be routed there first instead of taken to a real hospital in Odessa.
Of course, it wouldn't be the perfect Texas story unless this quack doctor and placebo huckster peddled his wares under the veneer of professionalism on a Christian cable network, during a program addressing a condition whose very existence is in doubt by most of the medical community, right?
Oh wait, it is the perfect Texas story!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZvyfISkl8Y
CT2----
I did not want to ask you about this Kermit Scandal. I was afraid your answer might get you arrested and you computer seized by the Kermit sheriff.
Gar---
I'm sorry, what is it you are thinking you need an apology for?
You must apologize for all the mean things you've said to me over the years. I was born in Kermit at the Kermit hospital. I stayed in the Kermit hospital for a week when I was 11 and was given "the Vapors". You are just now starting to see the Hell I grew up in.
Kermit law enforcement has always been "shady" at best.
Gar---
I'm sorry. I don't recollect ever saying anything mean to you.
You were born in Kermit Hospital? What were your parental units thinking? To be breeding in such a godforsaken place.
It is a wonderment you are not more of a mess than you are, what with such a dire beginning in such a dire place.
"Typist nurse" - now that's a new one! The woman is an RN and she has to maintain her RN status just like every other RN. Her role is to scrutinize medical records and her specialty is quality improvement, and the usual path to get to this position is having experience in the clinical arena before a nurse can move into this specialty.
A nurse does have a duty to report suspicious medical practice. It sounds like she was not being listened to a local level and thus sent the letter to the board for further investigation. If the nurse was truly trying to be inflammatory, then the good doctor should have nothing to fear. He should be proud of his rubber finger capping stitchery and his emergency room skin transplantation. I have a background in ER nursing in several Texas cities and this is practicing beyond ones means.
The sheriff has a biased opinion because he is friends with the doctor. There is no doubt that physicians who perform unethical practices can also save lives; these doctors can also be nice people.
The fact that this nurse is having to go to court for something like this smacks of how money is wasted. The doctor should be investigated and it should proceed from there. The doctor is the one with the vengeful lawsuit. Both his ego and pride are hurt by his creative practices.
The evidence for this "case" should be thrown out because the sheriff has an advantage to collest evidence to help his friend.
I can't even belief stuff like this happens in this day and time.
When I was ten years old I broke my leg and was taken to Kermit Hospital before being transported to Odessa. THe Dr on duty in Kermit that night gave a 10 year old girl enough morphine for a 45 200lbs man...then sent me on an ambulance 45 miles to Odessa without a splint on my leg- apparently forgetting tha tmy leg was CROOKED- Kermit hospital is crap at best...and maybe they wouldnt be if they could bring in a decent Dr...they've had kooks for years...who else would choose to practice there?
Isn't there some kind of whisteblower act to protect people from this kind of stuff?
When I first moved to rural TX, from MPLS where there is a medical school that improves the ethics in medicine, I learned quickly that a medical license is a license to steal.
Wow. I'll be sure to steer clear of Kermit or for some reason I am in that area I will try and make sure I don't find myself needing a hospital.
That is so stupid a nurse goes to jail for reporting her boss for breaking the law. Lets boycott Kermit.
Has anyone heard any news about how it went in the Kermit courtroom today? Did a Kangaroo Court quickly convict Nurse Mitchell and ship her off to Huntsville? Or did some wiser head in Kermit hear the storm blowing in from the rest of America and realize Kermit was embarrassing itself and shut the operation down?
As the anonymus said, the nurse is an RN - not a secretary, or some street person. As an RN, it her (or his) duty to report malpractice of any practicioner. This RN was particularly brave in going up the chain to persist in removing a doctor from practice. I did myself in the '70s when a doctor was dangerous to his patients. The doctor could end up treating you or yours using highly questionable techniques and cause many problems for you. Do you want that? Remember, some one had to graduate last in the class.
Maybe Miss Piggy and the gang can take over the operation of this hospital and town. It would make FW GREEN WITH ENVY, Durango.
http://www.circare.org/pd/arafiles_20070413.pdf
This Doc has already had charges filed on him in the past for poor judgement. It looks like the board doesn't allow him to supervise NP or PA's because of it. Hope the nurses triumph.
As a nurse who has practiced in many states, I think this is scary. What this nurse has done is to rock the ol'boy network that still apparently exists in Texas. We see this in GA to some extent. If she cites her state's nurse practice act--she should be covered. The public would cringe if they knew the full extent of the poor medical practices that nurses witness. So, this nurse must have seen more than she could bear to look away from. If she looses this fight, the nurses of Texas should pack up and move to a state where they are appreciated.
While the hospital was still being remodeled, my grandmother was having chest pains, so my dad took her to that place called a hospital. They couldn't find any doors that were unlocked due to the remodeleing except for 1. As they walked in, they saw nurses and doctors sitting down at a table eating. He explained that my grandmother was having chest pains, could someone help. The "hospital staff" explained to my dad and my grandmother who was still having chest pains, that they had just entered through a wrong door, and needed to go back out of it, and find another way in. After a few choice words, they left the place, and drove the 45 miles to Odessa. What kind of medical "professionals" tell a 70 year old woman who is having chest pains, to walk out of the door she just came in, and find another door...
How dare you people?!!
I myself am a healthcare provider, RN to be exact. When hearing about this story, I took it upon myself to find out the truth behind the story in order to determine if this is something that I may have to worry about, should there ever be a reason for me to blow a whistle myself.
The "Heroin Nurse" as it turns out, has lied repeatedly, including under oath, which by the way some of you may remember is illegal.
This woman vowed, in front of many witnesses on many occasions, to destroy the doctor & his reputation PRIOR to the doctor ever practicing in this hospital. After constant harassment & slander from the nurse, the doctor went to the sheriff to press harassment charges. While the harassment charges were under investigation, the "poor nurse" typed a letter to the board regarding the doctor & signed not only her name, but 11 other peoples' signatures (again, you may recognize forgery as illegal). Because the nurse was already under investigation, the sheriff was allowed to confiscate the computer. IT WAS HIS JOB. The other 11 people were questioned about the letter and all denied having any knowledge of it. FORGERY! The nurse, being caught in her lies, ran to the board of nurses who, of course, only heard her side of the story & immediately went up in arms in the defense of this supposed poor nurse. Little did they know, this "nurse" had been running the hospital with a co-conspirator prior to the hiring of this doctor, which is why she didn't want him there. He threw a wrench in her power trip.
As for those who think that she is an RN & not a pencil pusher.. I was told by several of the staff at the hospital, a little story: When there was a multiple victim accident in between both the small town of kermit & the small town of jal, NM, the towns devided the victims & each took what they could. All Kermit Memorial staff were called in to the kermit ER. Ms.Mitchell, being part of the staff, was ordered in also, but while everyone else was elbows deep in victims, ms. mitchell stood by doing nothing. When she was asked to help, she replied that this was no longer her job & that she no longer works with patients. After all the victims were stablized & sent to the larger surrounding hospitals, Ms. Mitchell wrote up the doctor, stating that he failed to maintain order during an emergency situation. This is only one example of what this doctor had apparently been dealing with.
Above, someone had mentioned that this small town had been looking for a good doctor for quite some time without any resolution. This woman who had reigned at the hospital for some time, is probably one of the main reasons they have not had a good doctor come in or stick around.
I find this woman a disgrace to medicine. I am embarassed to say that I am an RN especially since the board decided to back her in this case.
I find it ridiculous that you people will assume to know the facts just from listening to the media. Do yourselves a favor. Do your homework. Take control of your OWN life. If you need an answer, search it out. Do not take someone else's word for it. Make a few phone calls and get a real answer. Speak to the people INVOLVED in the "scandle".
You have all condemned someone doing his job & someone TRYING to do his job, all the while, praising someone who did everything but her job.
Society makes me more & more tired & more & more sad every day. Good luck to you all with your lives. May someone not come along and destroy your life with a few lies. May you never have to endure the unneccary stress that many have had to all because of false lawsuits & fear of false persecution.
God help us all.
Law enforcement has ALWAYS BEEN VERY VERY SHADY in this town.......and about the hospitals someone could be dying in the waiting room an they will have them waiting for at least an hour jus to tell them they should go to odessa an get checked out lol r u serious!!!!!! Wat kermit needs new law enforcement!!!!!!! And new hospital staff!!!!!!
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