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"I'm not 100% who I was," she said. "She took that away from me."
Data not demanded
The nursing board says it can't act on cases it doesn't know about. But it's not set up to find out what it needs to know, The Times and ProPublica found.
Most states require hospitals to report nurses who have been fired or suspended for harming a patient or other serious misconduct. So, for that matter, does California's vocational nursing board.
Not the registered nursing board.
Heidi Goodman, the board's assistant executive officer, told The Times in 2007 that the board could be overwhelmed if such reports were mandated. "We have to work within existing resources," she said. "You get the flood. What are you going to do about it?"
The board also largely shuts itself off from information about nurses licensed in California who get in trouble elsewhere.
It is not part of a national compact of 23 state nursing boards that share information about nurses who are under investigation or have been disciplined. And unlike 35 states, California does not put the names of all its registered nurses into an industry database. So if a California-licensed nurse gets in trouble in another state, that state may not know to notify California.
Terry said last week that the board would consider requiring California hospitals to report errant nurses -- a proposal that has come up before but never gained traction. She also said the board wants to arrange a one-time computer sweep of other states' actions to determine which of them involve California nurses.
Until recently, the state did not even ask nurses renewing their licenses whether they had been disciplined elsewhere or convicted of crimes. It began doing so only after The Times and ProPublica highlighted the loopholes last fall.
This spotty oversight has left some nurses suspended or barred from practice in other states free to care for patients in California.
One of those nurses, Sandra Corrine Taylor, had her license revoked by Oklahoma and Texas. A third state, Idaho, took away her license as a lesser-skilled nurse.
Among her alleged offenses: verbal and physical abuse of nursing home patients, medication errors and lying about her academic credentials, according to records from the other state boards. Taylor could not be reached.
Perhaps the most telling sign of dysfunction is when other states act against nurses for crimes and misdeeds committed in California before California's own board does. Often it appeared they simply had better information and acted on it more quickly.
David Miranda was fired by a Pasadena hospital in 2003 for testing positive for drugs on the job, then convicted in Los Angeles in 2005 of illegal gun possession. Citing those incidents, Arizona's nursing board denied him a license in 2006.
Based in part on Arizona's action, California's board gave Miranda probation in November 2007. Just last month the board moved to pull his license after he failed two drug tests.
Given a second chance
More than half the nurses who respond to allegations from the board are handed a second chance. Each year, California places at least 110 nurses on probation, warning that if they get in trouble again, their licenses may be yanked.
In reality, such action seldom happens quickly, if at all, according to a review of hundreds of nurse disciplinary records.
Just five board monitors oversee about 470 nurses on probation. Often nurses must undergo physical and mental exams, take drug tests, submit to workplace monitoring and attend rehabilitation or support groups.
Data not demanded
The nursing board says it can't act on cases it doesn't know about. But it's not set up to find out what it needs to know, The Times and ProPublica found.
Most states require hospitals to report nurses who have been fired or suspended for harming a patient or other serious misconduct. So, for that matter, does California's vocational nursing board.
Not the registered nursing board.
Heidi Goodman, the board's assistant executive officer, told The Times in 2007 that the board could be overwhelmed if such reports were mandated. "We have to work within existing resources," she said. "You get the flood. What are you going to do about it?"
The board also largely shuts itself off from information about nurses licensed in California who get in trouble elsewhere.
It is not part of a national compact of 23 state nursing boards that share information about nurses who are under investigation or have been disciplined. And unlike 35 states, California does not put the names of all its registered nurses into an industry database. So if a California-licensed nurse gets in trouble in another state, that state may not know to notify California.
Terry said last week that the board would consider requiring California hospitals to report errant nurses -- a proposal that has come up before but never gained traction. She also said the board wants to arrange a one-time computer sweep of other states' actions to determine which of them involve California nurses.
Until recently, the state did not even ask nurses renewing their licenses whether they had been disciplined elsewhere or convicted of crimes. It began doing so only after The Times and ProPublica highlighted the loopholes last fall.
This spotty oversight has left some nurses suspended or barred from practice in other states free to care for patients in California.
One of those nurses, Sandra Corrine Taylor, had her license revoked by Oklahoma and Texas. A third state, Idaho, took away her license as a lesser-skilled nurse.
Among her alleged offenses: verbal and physical abuse of nursing home patients, medication errors and lying about her academic credentials, according to records from the other state boards. Taylor could not be reached.
Perhaps the most telling sign of dysfunction is when other states act against nurses for crimes and misdeeds committed in California before California's own board does. Often it appeared they simply had better information and acted on it more quickly.
David Miranda was fired by a Pasadena hospital in 2003 for testing positive for drugs on the job, then convicted in Los Angeles in 2005 of illegal gun possession. Citing those incidents, Arizona's nursing board denied him a license in 2006.
Based in part on Arizona's action, California's board gave Miranda probation in November 2007. Just last month the board moved to pull his license after he failed two drug tests.
Given a second chance
More than half the nurses who respond to allegations from the board are handed a second chance. Each year, California places at least 110 nurses on probation, warning that if they get in trouble again, their licenses may be yanked.
In reality, such action seldom happens quickly, if at all, according to a review of hundreds of nurse disciplinary records.
Just five board monitors oversee about 470 nurses on probation. Often nurses must undergo physical and mental exams, take drug tests, submit to workplace monitoring and attend rehabilitation or support groups.
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