A troubling legal case pitting two nurses against a doctor and sheriff came to an end today. Anne Mitchell, a nurse who anonymously reported a physician to the Texas Medical Board, found herself facing indictment for "misuse of official information" a 3rd degree felony which carried a possible 10 year sentence $10,000 fine. Mitchell said she was only trying to protect the safety of her patients. Today, a jury took less than an hour to acquit Mitchell of the charges.
The case, and the implications of it, are far from over. But the case points to what can, in rare cases, be a tense relationship between nurses and physicians. Physicians and nurses both have obligations to protect the health of their patients. But if either is more interested in preserving their position and authority than in protecting the patients, then the other person is put in a difficult position no matter what they do, and ultimately, everyone can get hurt.
And again we see that in the dynamics of health care delivery, where humans with all their flaws, egos and mixed motives are delivering the care, there are no easy answers.
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