An investigation spurred on by the
death of a young boy has revealed a startling issue in the
nursing world. In the investigation of the boy’s May 2005 death, state records show that the boy’s nurse had fallen asleep, then ignored — or
possibly turned off — ventilator alarms that signaled the boy was not getting
enough oxygen.
The boy, investigators learned, was the second child to die under the nurse’s care. Seven months earlier, she had
lost her registered nursing license in another state for similar lapses in the
death of another boy in 2002. In that case, the 21-month-old patient had
stopped breathing while his nurse was caring for him at her home. Instead of
calling 911, she tried CPR, then drove the boy’s limp body three miles to his
parents’ house.
This nurse’s case highlights a
dangerous gap in the way states regulate nurses: They fail to effectively tell
each other what they know. As a result, caregivers with troubled records can
cross state lines and work without restriction, an investigation by the
nonprofit news organization ProPublica and The Los Angeles Times found.This same issue has been seen with nurses and CNA’s in long-term care facilities such as assisted living and nursing homes.
Using public databases and state
disciplinary reports, reporters found hundreds of cases in which registered
nurses held clear licenses in some states after they’d been sanctioned in
others. In one state, a month-long review of its
350,000 active nurses found at least 177 whose licenses had been revoked,
surrendered, suspended or denied in another state.
This breakdown in the system can be easily fixed.
Yet state regulators aren’t using their powers to seek out this information, or
act on what they find, the investigation found.
a national database, state officials can often find out within seconds whether
the nurse has been sanctioned anywhere in the country and why. But many states
don’t check regularly or at all.
Experts and regulators say the
patchwork nature of nursing regulations in the country demonstrates the
importance of a complete national database. State regulators should be required
not just to submit their licensees, they said, but to routinely check to see if
their nurses have been disciplined elsewhere. For more, read the story.
_______________________________________________________________
Robert W. Carter,
Jr. is a Virginia attorney whose law practice is dedicated to
protecting the rights of the victims of nursing home and assisted
living neglect and abuse in Richmond, Roanoke, Norfolk, Lynchburg,
Danville, Charlottesville, and across Virginia.
