Whistleblower Protection Program

Whistle-blowers are supposed to be the advocates for the patients. Nurses especially have the right to protect the patients. This means speaking up when they see something wrong, even if it is the doctor that is doing wrong. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has a “Whistleblower Protection Program.” This program protects employees who report violations at the workplace for safety and health (US Department of Labor, 1999). But does this always work? No. At least not when it came to a concerned nurse that wanted to protect her patients. Anne Mitchell had been working at Winkler County Memorable Hospital for 20 years. She was there when the arrival of a new Doctor came to the facility; Dr. Rolando Arafiles Jr started out working part time in the clinic. Although even before he came to the hospital he was on probation and fined $1,000 by the Texas Medical Board for practicing outside of his scope of practice. But tension arose when Anne, and her fellow nurse Vicki, found out the Dr. Arafiles was
emailing and speaking to the patients about some herbal supplements which he sold outside of his doctoring position. Anne was caught complaining about Dr. Arafiles to other co-workers, calling him a “witch doctor (Sack, NY Times)” The patient care from Dr. Arafiles continued to bother Anne and soon she spoke to the hospital administration with her concerns. Yet, nothing was done to further watch the doctor. He continued to perform surgical procedures in the clinic, which he was not licensed to do. He also stitched a patient’s crushed finger with the rubber tip from a pair of scissors. The nurses could not believe what Dr.
Arafiles was doing, but most were afraid that if they spoke up they would get fired, but Anne had seen enough and with the help of her nursing friend Vicki she wrote a letter to the Texas Medical Board in regards to multiple patients (whom were referred to as their chart numbers) in whom received these “botched” care from Dr. Arafiles. They signed it anonymously and sent it in. It only took a week later for another letter to come back to Dr. Arafiles, stating that he was being investigated due to a serious complaint. Outraged about this he went to a close friend who also happened to be Sheriff Robert Roberts and a past patient. Dr. Arafiles told Sheriff Roberts that he was being harassed. Sheriff Roberts was allowed a copy of the complaint since he was going to be investigating the alleged harassment. Once Sheriff Roberts and Dr. Arafiles looked over then note that were able to narrow it down to who wrote the
complaint. Wanting to be sure that all necessary precautions were taken, Sheriff Roberts then shared the complaint with Stan Wiley, who was the Winkler Count Hospital administrator. Search warrants were then filed against Anne and Vicki to look at their personal computers, which is where they found the original letter. No more than a couple of days later, in June 2009, the two woman were not only arrested and charged for misuse of official information without taking the necessary precautions but they were fired from their positions at Winkler Hospital. Both Anne and Vicki were taken to jail until trial. The two nurses doing exactly what they were taught to do by protecting the patients, only to be thrown in jail all alone. It was a month later that the American Nurses Association (ANA) got wind of this debacle, as well as Texas Nurses Association (TNA). These two groups helped fight and protect nurses. They also helped Anne get a new lawyer since the first attorney assigned to her was a close friend with Sheriff Roberts and a good acquaintance of Dr. Arafiles. Seven months later with the backing of The Nursing Associations they had raised more than $42,000 in support for Anne. Vicki’s charges were dropped and she was set free. Later in February 2010, the jury had found Anne not guilty. In fact, every member of the jury went up to Anne afterwards to congratulate and hug her for doing what was right. Mr. Wiley was fired from his position for retaliation against the two nurses. And, although Dr. Arafiles had continued to practice while the trial was happening, it wasn’t until June, 2010 that the Texas Medical Board charged Dr. Arafiles with witness intimidation, the malpractice of more than 9 patients, and perjury for lying in Anne’s trial. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail, a $5,000 fine and was ordered to surrender his medical license. Sheriff Roberts was removed as sheriff and had his Peace Officer License taken away. It seemed that justice was finally served. Every State has a Whistleblower’s Protection Act and every hospital and facility has a patient protection policy. When it comes to the patients, we are their advocates and as nurses this is a huge factor that is taught over and over again. We need to try to keep them safe…at all cost. This case blew my mind and I was shocked with how much trouble these two nurses received for doing a good act and being good nurses.