It's their duty: Nurses' primary responsibility is to the patients, not doctors

Houston Chronicle Editorial, August 16, 2010 A nurse's primary job is: A) To take care of her patients. B) To protect her doctor. To most of us, the answer seems obvious. So we were pleased last week that two nurses, Anne Mitchell and Vickilyn Galle, won a settlement from Winkler County, Texas - the county that not only fired them after they blew the whistle on a questionable doctor but prosecuted them on criminal charges to boot. In 2008, Mitchell and Galle began to voice concerns about a new hire, Dr. Rolando G. Arafiles Jr., to their superiors at Winkler County Memorial Hospital in Kermit. But nothing happened. ... It