Misconduct complaints against Ohio nurses have skyrocketed in recent years, leading to a backlog of investigations for the state nursing board’s disciplinary system, a newspaper investigation has found.
The Dayton Daily News reported that the Ohio Board of Nursing is taking more than a year to investigate complaints. That’s allowed some nurses to continue with caretaking duties while complaints are reviewed.
The board received 6,880 complaints in the 2011 budget year that ended June 30, and the allegations are on pace for a double-digit increase in the two-year accounting period, the newspaper reported. There were 11,645 complaints during the previous two-year period.
Complaints include allegations of drug theft, substance abuse, patient abuse, poor practices and other criminal conduct.
Judy Patak of Beavercreek told the board in January 2011 that a nurse caring for her severely disabled husband had treated him improperly during a feeding. The case has yet to get a hearing.
“If they get fired, they can just go somewhere else and the other agencies, they don’t know their ethics or what they’re like,” Patak told the newspaper.
One of the three nurses criminally charged for not reporting the poor health a 14-year-old girl also has yet to have a hearing with the board.
Makayla Norman, who had cerebral palsy and was dependent on others for her care, died almost a year ago. She weighed only 28 pounds and was covered with bedsores and caked in dirt, authorities said.
The newspaper reported that the license for Mary Kilby, a registered nurse working for Cincinnati-based CareStar Inc. as Norman’s case manager, remains active.
Kilby was indicted with others on charges of failing to provide care to a functionally impaired person and failing to report child abuse. She faces an April 18 trial.
Nurses have a right for allegations to be fully investigated, said Betsy Houchen, director of the nursing board. That requires the board to interview witnesses, issue subpoenas and gather all the evidence. Cases are then presented at one of six board meetings held annually.
“They are serious violations,” Houchen said. “We want to have all the information that we need for the board to consider.”
The board can immediately suspend nurses who are convicted of a felony.
The board’s most recent annual report says the “steady and dramatic increase in disciplinary complaints” has been a significant challenge for the panel.
Houchen said an increased emphasis on reporting concerns, along with growth in the industry, have fed the spike in complaints.
There were 210,000 licensed nurses in 2006 compared with 251,000 in 2011, she said.
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