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SUNDAY'S CHILD
Sunday's Child "Christopher" 2/7/10
Just in time for the Winter Olympics, CBS 7’s Tatum Hubbard hit the ice with a very athletic 15-year-old for a little "speed skating."
Just in time for the Winter Olympics, CBS 7’s Tatum Hubbard hit the ice with a very athletic 15-year-old for a little "speed skating."
CBS 7 EXCLUSIVE: State Checks Into Winkler County Nurses' Allegations 11/19/09
CBS 7 News
November 19, 2009
Kermit, Texas - It was back in the spring that Dr. Rolando Arafiles pressed charges against nurses Anne Mitchell and Vicki Galle, accusing them of harassment after they reported him to the state.
Now the state agencies are checking into the hospital themselves and what they found just might shock you.
We were tipped off today about a surprise state investigation at the Winkler Co. Memorial hospital.
Documents obtained by CBS 7 reveal the Texas Department of Health and Human Services stopped by in September reviewing meeting minutes and interviewing employees.
Their reports indicate that Dr. Rolando Arafiles had performed non-emergency procedures in the Emergency Room, against hospital policy and that he failed to abide by the rules when he brought an "oxygenated olive oil" cream from his car, to use on a patient. That he was using alternative medicines. something in the nurses Vicki Galle and Anne Mitchell's original complaints.
The documents show that Arafiles stitched the rubber tip from the suture kit scissors onto a patient, a rubber cap stitched to their body.
The state also reports that within Winkler Co. Memorial, there was "discrimination relating to employee reporting"in the firing of nurses Galle and Mitchell.
So we started to work the phones.
"With the economy I don't know if they could afford to get by without the Medicare and Medicaid," says Walton.
Board Member John Walton has been critical of hospital administrator Stan Wiley. The state's center for Medicare and Medicaid licenses hospitals, Walton worries the report could endanger the hospital's Medicare funding.
He also says his relative was offered herbal supplements for a heart procedure.
"It's dangerous when you have a heart procedure and they try to get you to throw your meds away".
Administrator Wiley signed the state report, but did not return our calls on the matter.
Reports now indicate the hospital may amend its policies to allow Complementary and Alternative Medicine something Wiley may address at tonight's board meeting.
The state also chastised the hospital for not taking action after a skin graft surgery that did not heal and for accepting Dr. Arafiles as active staff despite a stipulation on his medical license.
“He was taking people off medications and putting them on organic stuff that he was selling," says Walton.
"What makes you so concerned about our hospital here?" asks Arafiles.
We spoke with Arafiles over the phone, asking him whether he still uses the olive oil.
[Arafiles] "What about the oxygenated olive oil?"
[Beau] "I was wondering if that's true".
[Arafiles] "ahhhh"
[Arafiles] "Whatever you here about me is all lies".
[Beau] "About you?".
[Arafiles] "Yes, lies".
[Beau] "Even what the state investigators report?".
We talked to the nurses’ attorney, Brian Carney today. He says this information confirms what his clients, the nurses, originally reported the doctor for doing.
