By Dale Dutcher 1 Nov 2014
Kaci Hickox has gotten a lot of mileage out of her emotion-packed description of her ordeal with screening and monitoring of individuals entering or returning to this country from Ebola stricken West Africa, her criticism of forced quarantine and the claim of civil rights violations.
It might be more mileage than she originally intended.
In her article for The Dallas News, Hickox claimed that she worked with Doctors Without Borders caring for Ebola stricken individuals in West Africa.
In actuality, Hickox had ties with the Centers for Disease Control by virtue of being an official CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer.
According to the Daily Caller, Hickox was listed as an “active” EIS officer as recently as July 18, 2014, per the CDC’s own documents.
Hickox retained attorney Norman Siegel to file a lawsuit on her behalf alleging civil rights violations due to the mandatory quarantine issued by the state of New Jersey because of the possibility Hickox could be infected with Ebola.
In an interesting coincidence, Siegel happened to be an official guest at the White House State Dinner on February 11, 2014, accompanying none other than Ms. Rachel Robinson, the widow of Jackie Robinson.
Siegel, in another coincidence, partnered with none other than race-baiter supreme Al Sharpton in opposition to the New York state proposal to implement a DNA database of felons.
Naturally, the White House, aka Barack Hussein (Ebola) Obama, criticized the state of New Jersey in quarantining Hickox while the CDC was developing guidelines for the states to follow in dealing with health care workers returning from Ebola stricken West African nations.
It has been no secret that Ebola-Obama opposes any type of quarantine and the parrots at the CDC, Dr. Tom Frieden and Steven Fauci, mimic his rhetoric.
However, the Department of Defense commander of US Army Africa, Maj. Gen. Darryl Williams, has implemented mandatory quarantine for himself and 10 other soldiers upon returning to an Italian Army base after building treatment facilities in Ebola ravaged West Africa.
It appears that Maj. Gen. Williams understands much more about public health safety, personal responsibility and duty than anyone at the CDC or Ms. Hickox – individuals who are supposed to be trained healthcare professionals.
Ms. Hickox would do well to remember that she practices her profession under her resident state nurse practice act.
Since it has been disclosed she resides in Maine, Ms. Hickox has to follow the laws of the state of Maine when functioning as a nurse.
According to the State of Maine Nurse Practice Act, disciplinary action, up to suspension and revocation of the license of the licensee, can be taken when the license holder engages in
“(E) Incompetence in the practice for which the licensee is licensed."
A licensee is considered incompetent in the practice if the licensee has:
(1) engaged in conduct that evidences a lack of ability or fitness to discharge the duty owed by the licensee to a client or patient or general public; ….”
Since Ms. Hickox was unwilling to discharge her duty to follow the State of New Jersey public health mandate of a quarantine in their state under the guidelines the state was allowed to implement by virtue of abdication of the federal government, she exhibited a level of incompetence to fulfill her duty to the general public.
The State of Maine Nurse Practice Act states that disciplinary action may be taken against a licensee who engages in “unprofessional conduct.”
According to the law, “a licensee is considered to have engaged in unprofessional conduct if the licensee violates a standard of professional behavior that has been established in the practice for which the license is issued.”
In the case of Ms. Hickox, the standard of professional behavior would be to follow the state’s mandate of quarantine according to their guidelines and at their designated facility in order to “do no harm” to the general public.
The standard of professional behavior is to exercise personal responsibility to insist that public health safety come before oneself and follow the World Health Organization (WHO) 42 day incubation period for Ebola with a quarantine.
Instead, Ms. Hickox complained about the treatment of health care workers in a news outlet almost demanding preferential treatment for health care workers.
The Maine Nurse Practice Act also allows disciplinary action for “engaging in false, misleading or deceptive advertising.”
Ms. Hickox failed to disclose her association with the CDC, instead promoting first and foremost her work with Doctors Without Borders.
By engaging in this “deception,” one could assume Ms. Hickox was a willing participant in a plan to undermine the guidelines for screening, monitoring and quarantining of individuals, mostly health care workers, returning from caring for Ebola stricken individuals in West Africa.
Also, Ms. Hickox has basically hired an attorney to file a lawsuit for violation of civil rights concerning a quarantine issued to ensure public health safety, since three health care professionals have refused to exercise personal responsibility based on current medical knowledge regarding Ebola and endangered the general public with infection.
Ms. Hickox intentionally hid her association and employment with the CDC in order to “tow the company line” against sound medical intervention.
Basically, she mislead the public by failing to fully disclose her close association and employment with the CDC, which would account for her ranting and “special treatment.”
This “nurse” needs to have multiple complaints filed against her with the State of Maine Board of Nursing for violation of the State Nurse Practice Act should it be found she is licensed to practice in that state.
Since Ms. Hickox indicated she graduated from the University of Texas Arlington, a search of the State of Texas Board of Nursing produced a result for a Kaci Lynne Hickox, who resides in Grapevine, Texas, according to the Nursing Board record.
This license holder has a compact license meaning the license holder may practice in multiple states using the license issued by the State of Texas.
However, the license holder is responsible for following the Nurse Practice Act in all states in which the license is valid and the state of residence.
The Texas Board of Nursing has similar rules allowing for disciplinary action as Maine for similar offenses.
The “ranting” Hickox reportedly returned home to Maine for her quarantine after the White House became involved.
Anyone may file a complaint against a nurse for violation of the Nurse Practice Act.
Normally, the complaints are filed by colleagues, other nurses or physicians.
However, with the actions of Ms. Hickox out in the open, the general public has every reason to question this nurses’ ability to follow any nurse practice act which indicates that the professional registered nurse has a duty to public health safety.
Maybe Ms. Hickox should have thought all of this through before opening her mouth and engaging in making herself a media spectacle.
It’s possible that Ms. Hickox was willing to sacrifice her career in exchange for fame, millions of dollars or both in order to undermine the public health safety at the behest of the CDC.
Should that be the case, Ms. Hickox should be ashamed to call herself a professional nurse.
If anyone would like to lodge a complaint against Ms. Hickox for unprofessional conduct and violations of standard professional conduct, the address for both Texas and Maine Nursing Boards are listed below.
State of Texas Board of Nursing
William P. Hobby Building
233 Guadalupe, Suite 3-460
Austin, TX 78701-3944
Toll-free complaint line: 1-800-821-3205
Email: [email protected]
State of Maine Board of Nursing
161 Capital Street
158 State House Station
Augusta, Maine 04333-0158
Phone: 207-287-1133
Probation and Compliance: 207-287-1144
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