Criminal past is no bar to nursing in California
Times investigation finds the state nurse licensing board allowed sex offenders, drug users and convicts to retain and renew their permits.
Dozens of nurses convicted of crimes, including sex offenses and attempted murder, have remained fully licensed to practice in California for years before the state nursing board acted against them, a Times investigation found.
The newspaper, in a joint effort with the nonprofit investigative news organization ProPublica, found more than 115 recent cases in which the state didn't seek to pull or restrict licenses until registered nurses racked up three or more criminal convictions. Twenty-four nurses had at least five.
In some cases, nurses with felony records continue to have spotless licenses -- even while serving time behind bars.
Nurse Haydee Parungao sits in a federal prison in Danbury, Conn., serving a nearly five-year sentence after admitting in 2006 that she bilked Medicare out of more than $3 million.
In her guilty plea, Parungao confessed to billing for hundreds of visits to Southern California patients that she never made, charging for visits while she was out of the country and while she was gambling at Southern California casinos.
Yet according to the state of California, she is a nurse in good standing, free to work in any hospital or medical clinic.
Reporters reviewed stacks of nursing board files and court pleadings, consulted online databases and newspaper clippings and conducted interviews with nurses and experts in several states. The review included an analysis of all accusations filed and disciplinary actions taken since 2002 -- more than 2,000 in all, finding misdemeanors and felonies ranging from petty theft and disorderly conduct to assault, embezzlement and bail jumping.
Among the cases in which the board acted belatedly or not at all:
* An Orange County man continued to renew his nursing license for years even after he was imprisoned for attempted murder.
* A Redding nurse racked up 14 convictions from 1996, a year after she was licensed, through 2006, a year before the board caught up with her. The charges included driving under the influence, driving with a suspended license and possession of a controlled substance.
* A San Pedro man amassed convictions for receiving stolen property, possession of cocaine and possession of burglary tools before the board placed him on probation. He subsequently was arrested two more times, for possessing cocaine and a pipe to smoke it.
In response, the board extended his probation.
