Nurse Gets Probation Following Baby’s Death, Three Other Nurses Disciplined

The state Board of Examiners for Nursing Wednesday placed an East Hartford nurse’s license on probation for two years in connection with the death of a 13-month-old girl she was caring for in Manchester in 2014. A 2016 investigative report found that Shirley A. Powell, a licensed practical nurse, had failed to provide rescue breathing and CPR when the girl’s tracheotomy tube became dislodged. Under a consent order approved by the board Wednesday, Powell is permanently barred from caring for a patient with an artificial airway in a home health care setting or in any setting without the presence of other licensed nurses. The order does allow her to continue caring for one adult with an artificial airway who she has been caring for since 2008. Her employer will have to regularly report to DPH on the quality of Powell’s care of that patient.

State Disciplines Five Nurses For Misconduct

The state Board of Examiners for Nursing today disciplined five nurses for misconduct, including four whose cases involved drugs or alcohol. After a hearing today, the board revoked the license of Danielle Dragon, a licensed practical nurse from Bristol, who was accused of crushing a pill that she said was Oxycodone but which was tested and found to be Tylenol. In April, the board had placed her license on probation for one year, and earlier this month, it had suspended her license while she awaited the hearing because, records show, she has failed to submit to drug tests. Dragon did not attend the hearing, so the board deemed that she had admitted to the charges against her. The board voted to suspend the license of Cherish Ostrosky, a registered nurse from Oxford, who was arrested during a traffic stop in Monroe May 19, record show.