XPost: atl.general, alt.drugs.hard, sac.politics   
   XPost: alt.politics.democrats, soc.culture.african.american, soc.retirement   
   From: emailbarry@yahoo.com   
      
   An investigation has found Georgia’s most fragile population – the ill   
   and ailing – may be in imminent danger due to a culture of secrecy and   
   questionable tactics employed by the state’s regulatory board for   
   nurses, which stands accused of acting to keep drug-addled health   
   workers employed while keeping the public in the dark.   
      
   A report published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution alleges   
   instances of still-employed, drug-abusing nurses botching patients’   
   medications, administering unauthorized opioids and tampering with   
   medical supplies to achieve a fix.   
      
   The news outlet’s investigation alludes to the secrecy surrounding the   
   way the Board of Nursing handles it’s disciplinary cases and it’s lack   
   of record keeping. According to AJC.com, many opioid-addicted nurses   
   are offered second and third chances despite having relapsed, with the   
   public shielded from information pertaining to a nurse’s drug history.   
      
   “We have boards to protect the public, not to be soft touches,” state   
   Rep. Sharon Cooper, chairwoman of the House Health and Human Services   
   committee and a registered nurse, told AJC.com. “I know how bad the   
   drug problem is. And so I really think that the first priority should   
   be to the patient’s protection.”   
      
   Cooper alleges that the board is acting to uphold the reputation of   
   the profession, rather than protect the public. But Janice Izlar,   
   president of the 13-member board, counters that the secrecy   
   surrounding the panel’s disciplinary actions actually assists the   
   investigative process and allows for the monitoring of accused nurses,   
   rather than getting tied up in public legal battles while trying to   
   revoke licenses.   
      
   Instead, the board says it offers offending nurses private   
   disciplinary orders. In 2017, 54 percent of the 333 disciplinary   
   orders issued were private. Izlar did not reveal how many orders were   
   opioid-related.   
      
   “Many times, the nurse does not want their name on a public Board of   
   Nursing website that there has been discipline,” Izlar told AJC.com.   
   “And so they will accept the order and actually get under monitoring   
   and under appropriate care that has been determined by their   
   physician. And they will actually sign this order much quicker, and   
   they will go ahead and get into the programs and into monitoring much   
   quicker.”   
      
   But once the private orders -- which include submitting to drug   
   screens, notifying employers and avoiding jobs with access to drugs --   
   expire, the offending nurse’s records are concealed.  And while Izlar   
   insists that nurses who are caught working while impaired or diverting   
   drugs can’t get private orders, AJC.com reported there is no way to   
   verify that policy.   
      
   “I’m sorry if some nurse gets her license suspended and that’s her   
   livelihood,” Cooper told AJC.com. “But if she’s in the position of   
   putting patients at risk, then so be it.”   
      
      
   http://www.foxnews.com/health/2018/06/01/georgia-nursing-board-p   
   ioritizes-drug-addicted-nurses-over-patients-report-says.html?in   
   cmp=ob_article_sidebar_video&intcmp=obnetwork   
      
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