KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Many nurses are caring professionals devoted to helping the sick. But NBC Action News Investigator Keith King uncovered how some licensed nurses with a criminal past slid by a system that is supposed to protect you.
When you picture a nurse, you think of a caretaker who helps the weak, the sick and the frail.
Shawn Garbin is a caretaker who is now accused of taking advantage to two patients.
“He was someone who was very capable of, had the propensity to sexually harass women,” Mark Buchanan said. Buchanan is an attorney representing a former co-worker of Garbin.
The former co-worker claims Garbin sexually harassed her and other female co-workers while working in a Wyandotte County nursing home.
Court documents filed by Buchanan show in March 2005, Garbin was fired for sexual harassment.
Since then, he has been named in at least seven lawsuits, six for sexual harassment and one for racial discrimination.
Buchanan said about the case he filed, “We had three women who testified that he (Garbin) had sexually harassed them, sexually assaulted them by coming up behind them and pressing his groin or penis against them.”
Despite his legal troubles, Garbin still got a job at Shawnee Mission Medical Center.
More trouble soon followed. In December 19, 2007 records from the Kansas Nursing Board show Garbin attempted to unbuckle a patient's belt, unsnap and unzip her pants. He hugged the patient, kissed and even fondled her breasts.
The next day, Garbin had sexual contact with a different patient. In graphic details, the records state Garbin placed his genitals in the patient's mouth. Garbin admits to doing this, but he said it was consensual.
A spokesperson for Shawnee Mission Medical Center said each employee goes through an extensive background check before and after being hired. Despite Garbin’s clean criminal background, the hospital fired him after doing an internal investigation. You can read the hospital’s full statement by clicking at the top of this page.
But some question whether the Kansas Board of Nursing is doing enough to keep the public safe.
Nurse Disciplinary Actions
Diane Glynn, a spokesperson for the Kansas Nursing Board said, “We are here to protect the public.”
The Kansas Nursing Board decides which nurses can be licensed to work with patients. A small portion of nurses find themselves in serious trouble with the law. The board decides their professional punishment.
The NBC Action News Investigators reviewed nurse disciplinary actions taken by the Kansas Nursing Board since 2001. Our investigation found at least 39 nurses disciplined for criminal acts like fraud, abuse, theft and sexual misconduct. The board allowed over half (25) to keep their licenses.
We found two male nurses on the Kansas Sex Offender Registry. Both are still licensed but with stipulations that they cannot work around children. Our investigation also found a nurse who was convicted of murder in 1972.
Investigator Keith King asked Glynn, “How can someone with a criminal past like that still be around patients?” Glynn said, “If they came for license after 1996 when the law took affect it wouldn’t be.”
In the 1990’s Kansas lawmakers approved a list of felony crimes against people that bar a nurse from working. Crimes like murder, assault and battery are on the list. But we found the nurse convicted of murder, still working around patients until 2004.
All other crimes and questionable acts committed by nurses, the board looks at the individual cases. We found a case that is not criminal, but it raises concerns.
One nurse wrote on his MySpace page, “I always wanted to be a serial killer… I settled for nursing, which is cool because I get to stab people with needles. If a patient gets too lippy with me, I just sedate them and then violate them. So, life is good.” The nursing board suspended his license, but ruled it can be reinstated after he completes requirements like a year of therapy.
