Washington Department of Health
The state Department of Health recently released a set of lists naming health care professionals who were sanctioned with official actions in March and April. In Western Washington, actions were taken toward health care workers in Thurston, Pacific, and Pierce counties.
This is a sampling of the complete list provided by the Department of Health:
Pierce County
Arland Decastro Abbott, a massage therapist, was charged with unprofessional conduct by the Massage Therapist Program after a client alleged that he touched her inappropriately during a massage session. In 2017 King County Superior Court issued a sexual assault protection order against Abbott. He was also charged with indecent liberties.
Katherine L. Buchmiller, a nursing assistant, had her credential suspended indefinitely by the secretary of health. That action was taken after Buchmiller tested positive for the drug fentanyl following an episode where several fentanyl patches turned up missing at a residential care facility where she was employed.
Kellie LaRae Hudson, a nursing assistant, had her credential suspended immediately and was charged with unprofessional conduct by the Nursing Assistant Program. In 2017 Hudson pleaded guilty to a federal charge of Social Security fraud-representative payee fraud in relation to her work as a financial manager for vulnerable adults. Hudson admitted to writing and forging checks from the checkbooks of vulnerable adults and using the money for herself. She was ordered to make a restitution payment of about $15,984.32 to the Social Security Administration. This year Hudson was convicted in federal court on the same court on the same charges after the state Department of Social and Health Services found that she financially exploited five vulnerable adults under her care. She is now prevented from being employed in the caring for, or having unsupervised access to vulnerable adults.
Pacific County
Joseph William Rogerson, a medical assistant, was charged with unprofessional conduct by the Medical Assistant Program. Rogerson allegedly failed to abide by a requirement to enroll in a substance abuse monitoring program.
Thurston County
The secretary of health ended conditions on the chemical dependency professional trainee, chemical dependency professional, and agency-affiliated counselor credentials of Mandi Joelle Maycumber.
The Nursing Commission withdrew a statement of charges against Katherine A McCarthy. McCarthy, also known as Katherine Vitela, is a registered nurse.
The Health Systems Quality Assurance Division works with boards, commissions and advisory committees in order to set licensing standards for more than 80 health care professions, ranging from medical doctors to veterinarians. Health care workers charged with unprofessional conduct have 20 days to respond to the Department of Health in writing in order to trigger a settlement process.
Information about health care providers is available on the DOH website at doh.wa.gov. Visitors to the website should click on the “How Do I” section for more information. The site includes detailed information about the license status of health care workers, including the expiration and renewal date of their credential, disciplinary actions and copies of legal documents issued after July 1998. The information is also available by calling 360-236-4700.
