Washington Post: Fired Pediatric Hospice Nurse Fights to Clear her Name
A nurse in Maryland who focused on providing aid and comfort to sick children was fired three years ago after continually reporting errors in medication orders for her child patients, which would have been lethal. While the hospice that the nurse worked for has stated the dismissal was unrelated to her whistleblowing, the nurse had received excellent performance reviews in the immediate years prior to her firing, and accolades from a director just months before her termination.
Her case, after a recent overturning by the Maryland Supreme Court (in her favor), will now go back to circuit court for a jury trial.
The New York Times: Agency Agreed Wildlife Risk from Oil was "Low"
Troubling news regarding the massive oil spew, the lack of clear and truthful communications from BP, and the inadequate state of federal regulations continues to emerge.
First, the story above details how the federal agency charged with ensuring the safety of endangered species (Fish and Wildlife Service) "signed off on the Minerals Management Service's conclusion that deepwater drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico posed no significant risk to wildlife, despite evidence that a spill of even moderate size could be disastrous, according to federal documents." Several endangered species have been significantly harmed by the oil spill.
In addition to that, this Washington Post story shows that, since the oil spew began, "BP has skimmed or burned about 60 percent of the amount it promised regulators it could remove in a single day." (emphasis added)
Catholic News Service: Federal Court Reinstates Lawsuit Charging Calif. Planned Parenthood with $180 Million Overbilling
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has "reinstated a whistleblower's lawsuit against Planned Parenthood affiliates in California charging that the organizations overbilled the state and federal governments more than $180 million for birth control drugs."
Daily Kos: Spying 101 - Which State Secrets Make a Spy?
In this blog post, GAP's Jesselyn Radack lays out some similarities between the cases of NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake and an American geologist who was just sentenced by China to eight years in prison for stealing state secrets.
Read more and comment at The Whistleblogger!
