Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX-Act) of 2002 Article
LAW 421
May 02, 2013
Mr. Mark Reed

Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX-Act) of 2002 Article
In this report, we will discuss about a couple of healthcare whistleblowers, who had to endure harassment and unjust treatment after disclosing some wrong doings in their place of employment. We will also discuss how this act protects whistleblowers and the penalties involved for those who are found in violation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS This particular case started with two brave Texan nurses where they had blown the whistle on one of their doctors, Dr. Rolando G. Arafiles Jr., formerly from the Winkler County Memorial Hospital in Kermit, Texas, who had misused information and had retaliated against the two nurses that eventually ended their career as nurses. The nurses had witnessed unsafe and dangerous practices at their hospital and sent an anonymous letter to the state medical board. Dr. Arafiles, in response, vise making an effort to fix the problem, an array of people from the doctor, the hospital administrator, the county sheriff including the county prosecutor bonded together to discredit and harass the nurses. Despite of all these retaliation that they were continually getting from these people, the two nurses, Anne Mitchell and Vicki Galle stood firm and strong (Danaher, 2011). After two hard years of court proceedings, in January of 2010, Dr. Arafiles, along with his cohorts, were found guilty of retaliation by misuse of power on the nurses and sentenced to 60 days in jail, a $5,000 fine and probation of five years. The hospital administrator, Stan Wiley was also found guilty of the same offense and received 30 days in jail. The sheriff, Robert Roberts received 100 days in jail and fines of $6,000 and lastly, the county prosecutor, Scott Tidwell was sentenced to 120 days in jail. The two nurses, Anne Mitchell and Vicki Galle received a settlement in the amount of $750,000 from the county (Danaher, 2011).

Legal Issue The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, was created to protect the public from businesses who are otherwise not honest with their service especially when it involves citizens or the public. It was also created to protect those who choose to speak up despite any anticipated retaliation and harassment. The Doctor’s unsafe practices were not in conformance with medical care and could subsequently lead to a patient’s death.
Managerial Perspective Businesses, especially at the supervisory or managerial level should have a policy as to encourage whistleblowing for the good of all. The hospital should have an open door policy for serious concerns especially in health care practices before it’s too late. In this case, death as a result of a doctor’s carelessness brings a bad reputation of the hospital and to the public. This incident clearly showed an extreme reaction of an employer towards a whistleblower, may it be a template for other employers of how not to react to these situations.

References
Danaher, M. G. (2011, June 16). American Health Lawyers Association. Retrieved May 2, 2013, from www.healthlawyers.org.