The Texas Board of Nursing has temporarily suspended the license of Camp Mystic’s chief health officer, saying her continued practice “constitutes a continuing and imminent threat to public welfare.”
The suspension order, filed Tuesday, says Mary Liz Eastland failed to develop and maintain adequate emergency plans and training protocols before a July 4 flood killed 25 campers and two teenage counselors at the all-girls Christian camp, among other charges. The order, first reported by the San Antonio Express-News, also called her conduct “deceptive” for failing to report the deaths within 24 hours.
Last month, Eastland testified at a court hearing in Austin that she still had not officially reported the deaths to state health regulators.
“I did not think of this requirement in the moments happening after the flood,” she said during the April hearing.
Eastland could not immediately be reached for comment.
The nursing board’s order says a probable cause hearing will be held within 17 days of the order’s filing, with a final hearing to be held no later than the 61st day after the temporary suspension was ordered.
"This is a sad day for Mrs. Eastland as well as every licensed nurse in Texas. Mrs. Eastland has admirably committed herself to service of others for the last eighteen years. Yet the Texas Board of Nursing decided to summarily suspend her right to practice without the benefit of testimony, evidence or a complete investigation. Mrs. Eastland received notice of her summary proceeding less than twenty-four hours before it took place, and what followed had nothing to do with public protection. This was an exercise in premature punishment. But judgments should not precede process in an ordered system of justice. Mrs. Eastland rejects the Board’s allegations and looks forward to defending her rights before the State Office of Administrative Hearings.”
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.
