Texas justice

The New York Times has an editorial about justice in Texas:

A nurse is on trial in a West Texas criminal court after she submitted an unsigned complaint to a state medical board expressing concern about the quality of care provided by a doctor in the county hospital where she worked. The nurse, Anne Mitchell, has been accused of “misuse of official information”, a third-degree felony in Texas that carries a maximum penalty of ten years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
As described by Kevin Sack in The Times recently, Mrs. Mitchell raised concerns about Dr. Rolando G. Arafiles Jr. with the Texas Medical Board, which licenses and disciplines doctors. She alleged that he had delivered inappropriate care in six cases, and had encouraged patients to buy an herbal supplement that he sold on the side. Charges against a second nurse who helped write the complaint were dropped by prosecutors. After the medical board notified the doctor that a complaint had been lodged, small-town “justice” took over. Dr. Arafiles protested to the county sheriff, a friend who credits the doctor with saving his life after a heart attack and who is, court submissions say, a business associate in the herbal supplement sideline.
The sheriff contacted the patients listed in the complaint, analyzed the supposedly confidential letter for clues as to the authors, obtained a search warrant to examine the computers of the two nurses he suspected, and found the letter on Mrs. Mitchell’s computer. Both nurses were fired from their longtime jobs at the hospital and prosecutors filed a criminal suit against them. The nurses have filed a federal lawsuit charging that they were deprived of free speech, due process, and the protection of whistle-blower laws.
The verdict in the criminal case may turn on whether jurors believe the nurses acted in good faith to protect patients, or were carrying out a vendetta to damage the doctor’s reputation, as the prosecutors contend.
It is disturbing that this case even reached the courts. The physician’s performance should have been evaluated by the medical board before a criminal prosecution undermined the board’s ability to obtain frank information from other hospital personnel. If the nurses had a flimsy, concocted case, the doctor would presumably have been exonerated. This case also is bound to have a chilling effect on the willingness of nurses to report doctors believed to be endangering patients. That is not good news.

Rico says this is bad, even for Texas...