National News
S.A. nurses keeping licenses despite multiple criminal convictions
April 28, 2015 posted by Steve Brownstein
State nursing records provided to the KENS 5 I-Team show San Antonio area nurses have been allowed to keep their licenses despite multiple criminal convictions and -- in many cases -- instances of attempting to hide their crimes from the state.
Fourteen area nurses were sanctioned last year for deceiving the state. The Texas Board of Nursing General Counsel Dusty Johnston says the board uses disciplinary guidelines when ultimately deciding the fate of a nurse's license.
"The board has always been concerned about crimes, always evaluated them and then over time you just become more refined in developing your policies," Johnston said.
The state phased in mandatory fingerprint background checks for Texas nurses over the past decade.
This, along with a nearly 50 percent increase in the nursing population in Texas, has caused the total number of sanctions handed down to nurses to surge in recent years.
Last year, the board issued an average of 297 sanctions a month, nearly 2 1/2 times the monthly average of sanctions given in 2003.
"It's our job to comply with the board's policies, and we take that job seriously," Johnston said.
Johnston defended the board's handling of San Antonio nurse Julie Cantu, who was allowed to keep her license with a warning and conditions in August 2014, despite two separate criminal convictions and three instances of not properly notifying the state about her arrests and the eventual outcomes of her criminal cases.
Cantu was charged with felony burglary of a habitation with the intent to commit assault in February 2003.
San Antonio Police records show Cantu was accused of entering a midtown duplex and punching and kicking a woman. A burglary conviction would have caused Cantu's license to be revoked, according to board of nursing policy.
However, the case against her was refiled as a misdemeanor.
Bexar County Court records show Cantu pleaded no contest and was convicted of assault in 2005. Cantu performed community service, then took steps to have the charge dismissed.
Weeks after a judge signed the dismissal in 2006, Cantu renewed her nursing license without properly notifying the state, according to a board action signed by Cantu.
In 2009, Cantu was arrested on a DWI charge in Bexar County. The next year, she again did not properly disclose the arrest when renewing her license, according to state records.
Cantu pleaded guilty to Obstructing a Highway-Intoxication in 2011, but a year later failed to properly disclose the guilty plea while renewing her license.
Cantu, who is employed as a San Antonio workers compensation nurse, is allowed to continue working as long she meets several conditions, including submitting to drug screenings, completing remedial education courses and notifying the state about any changes in her employment. Cantu's stipulations are scheduled to be lifted this summer.
Cantu told the I-Team on Wednesday that her arrests were the result of "circumstances" going on in her life at the time. Cantu said the convictions have no bearing on her ability to be a good nurse.
A spokeswoman for Cantu's company said she remains in good standing. The spokeswoman mentioned Cantu's 29 years of military experience, but declined to go on the record with background information about Cantu's criminal history.
The I-Team found at least two other San Antonio nurses sanctioned last year who kept their licenses despite multiple convictions and at least one instance of not notifying the state.
Barbara Tuitele is still listed as working for a west San Antonio medical group, despite pleading no contest in separate cases of family violence and enhanced DWI since 2008.
In 2010, Tuitele was cited for providing "false, deceptive, and/or misleading information" to the board about her family violence charge.
Barry Davis has DWI convictions in Bexar County and Harris County. Yet state records show he did not disclose the Harris County conviction when renewing his license in late 2009. Like Cantu and Tuitele, Davis was given a warning with conditions. The I-Team could find no record of a possible current employer of Davis.
When pressed about whether the process of listing criminal activity while renewing nursing licenses is complicated, Johnston pointed out that the nurses signed the sanctions, acknowledging the wrongdoing.
Johnston added that fewer than one percent of all Texas nurses were sanctioned last year.
