Charges Against Nurse in Care Denial Dropped
Criminal charges against a Panorama Community Hospital nurse accused of denying treatment to a seriously ill baby were dismissed Tuesday because prosecutors said some evidence indicated that another staff member might have turned the baby and her family away from the emergency room.
Deborah Carol Nachman, 37, who has been a nurse since 1975, had been charged with violating a recently enacted state Health and Safety Code statute that makes it a misdemeanor for a health-care professional to deny medical care to a patient whose life is in danger or who shows signs of serious illness or injury, said Deputy City Atty. Ellen Pais.
But Pais said witness accounts and hospital records suggested that another nurse may have turned away 15-month old Veronica Ayala and her family on Dec. 8, 1988.
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