STATE OF FLORIDA

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

FLORIDA STATE BOARD OF NURSING, )

)

Petitioner, )

)

vs. ) CASE NO. 76-1193

)

MARY FRANCES BLAND SMITH )

ORFANAKOS, R.N., )

)

Respondent. )

)

RECOMMENDED ORDER

A hearing was held pursuant to notice on October 28, 1976 in the Conference Room of the Escambia County Health Department, 2251 North Palafox Street, Pensacola, Florida before Stephen F. Dean, assigned Hearing Officer of the Division of Administrative Hearings.

APPEARANCES

For Petitioner: Julius Finegold, Esquire

1130 American Heritage Building Jacksonville, Florida

For Respondent: Artis L. McGraw, Esquire

26 East Garden Street Pensacola, Florida 32501

ISSUES

Whether Mary Frances Bland Orfanakos had obtained prescription drugs by presenting a forged prescription, and whether said conduct is a violation of Section 464.21(1)(b), Florida Statutes, as unprofessional conduct.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Mary Frances Bland Smith Orfanakos is a Registered Nurse holding License Number 82216-2 issued by the Florida State Board of Nursing.

   
   

2. The Parties stipulated to the facts alleged in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of the Administrative Complaint. The Respondent specifically denied the allegations contained in paragraphs 4 and 6 of said Administrative Complaint. The Petitioner withdrew the allegations of paragraph 5 of the Administrative Complaint.

   
   

3. The Respondent met William Orfanakos in Dallas, Texas prior to October 1975. In October 1975 the Respondent returned from Dallas, where she was employed as a Registered Nurse at Methodist Hospital, to Pensacola, Florida where she assisted in taking care of her father who is terminally ill. On November 21, 1975, she married William Orfanakos in Pensacola, Florida. Shortly

   after their marriage, she became aware that her husband was a user of Talwin, a drug restricted to use by prescription only.

   
   

4. After their marriage, William Orfanakos repeatedly requested the Respondent to obtain blank prescription forms for him. Giving in to his continued requests, the Respondent obtained two blank prescription forms which she subsequently presented to A & E Drugs to be filled, knowing that they were forged. The first of these was presented on February 27, 1976 and the second on March 12, 1976.

   
   

5. Mary Orfanakos is a white female in her late twenties. She was first married at age sixteen (16) and, having had a child, worked her way through nursing school. She received her initial nursing training at Springhill College and Providence Hospital in Mobile, Alabama. She graduated in 1973 and was employed at Providence Hospital for one and a half years in delivery and OBGYN before moving to Dallas, Texas. There she worked at Methodist Hospital in cardiac care unit until returning to Pensacola to tend her sick father. She worked at Baptist Hospital in Pensacola, Florida from January 1976 until June 1976. Her work was judged by her supervisors, co-workers and physicians as good. She returned to Texas in June 1976 and is currently employed by United Biologies Houston, Texas.

   
   

6. The Respondent acknowledged her acts and is very remorseful over having committed them.

   
   

7. After returning to Texas in June 1976 she separated from her husband, William, because of the conflicting obligations which felt to her profession and to her estranged husband, who had urged her to obtain drugs for him. Although the Respondent would like to reconcile her relationship with her husband, she is afraid and remorseful over that relationship with him which caused her to act in a manner which she very apparently views as dishonorable, degrading and unprofessional even though her husband has been successfully treated for his drug-use problem.

   
   

8. The Respondent is a knowledgeable, well-trained nurse with considerable professional experience for her years. She resolved to become a nurse while in high school and overcame the problems of a youthful marriage and caring for a young child to obtain her nursing training.

   
   

9. The depth of Respondent's character and its generally good quality are apparent in her having overcome many difficulties to obtain her nursing training and her understanding of the nature of her acts and feeling of remorse which she has over them.

   
   

   CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

   
   

10. The Respondent's actions in presenting forged prescriptions to obtain prescription drugs for her husband are not in accordance with acceptable nursing standards and as such are unprofessional and in violation s464.21(1)(b), Florida Statutes.

RECOMMENDATION

The Hearing Officer finds that the Respondent, while having violated the standards of her profession, did so at the continued insistence of her husband who she had recently married. But for the close, constant, and personal influence of her husband, the Respondent would not have violated her

responsibilities as a Registered Nurse. Although the Respondent did and still does have a great deal of affection for her husband, the remorse which she feels for her actions and her fear of that relationship which caused her to act in a manner which she views as dishonorable and degrading have resulted in her separation from him. Based on the foregoing, the Hearing Officer would recommend that the Florida State Board of Nursing not revoke or suspend the license of Respondent but place her on probation for the maximum period allowed by law under such conditions as the Board, upon review of the record, deems appropriate.

DONE and ORDERED this 6th day of December, 1976 in Tallahassee, Florida.

STEPHEN F. DEAN, Hearing Officer Division of Administrative Hearings Room 530, Carlton Building Tallahassee, Florida 32304

(904) 488-9675

COPIES FURNISHED:

Julius Finegold, Esquire

1130 American Heritage Building Jacksonville, Florida

Artis L. McGraw, Esquire

26 East Garden Street Pensacola, Florida 32501

Geraldine Johnson, R.N. State Board of Nursing Suite 201

6501 Arlington Expressway

Jacksonville, Florida 32211

Docket for Case No: 76-001193

Orders for Case No: 76-001193