“Crazy” Administrator may lose license

Vermont’s Rutland Herald had an interesting article about Leslie A. Whittington who is the subject of an investigation that alleges she interfered with medical care, did not keep records or adequate supplies on hand and attempted to intimidate her staff into either writing positive statements about her or recanting negative ones, according to a pair of documents filed by the Secretary of State’s Office of Professional Regulation.

Calling her conduct erratic, dangerous and a risk to her elderly residents, the Office of Professional Regulation will hold an emergency hearing to possibly suspend the license of the director of the Gill Odd Fellows Home, according to state filings.

Among the allegations against Whittington:

In March 2009, when a patient received four times his regular dose of heart medication, the facility failed to notify the family and gave fraudulent information to the patient’s doctor about the incorrect dosage.

Interfered with the care of a hospice patient by insisting the patient receive life-prolonging medication he or she did not want, forcing the doctor to bring Whittington to the patient’s room to hear the patient refuse the medication.

Interfered with nurses’ duties, such as interrupting the dispensation of medication and ordering the nurses to clean instead, as well as telling a state investigator Whittington is six credits away from a nursing degree despite never having been enrolled in a nursing program.

According to the state documents, after receiving the complaint in early February, Whittington “reacted in retaliatory and intimidating manner toward Facility employees, and has created a hostile work environment.” After receiving the complaint, Whittington held a managers meeting where she read each and every charge aloud and threatened revenge, records state. “I don’t lose a fight,” Whittington told her managers. “I win every fight and when this is done, all the people who said these things about me, I will get back at them.”

At least three medical professionals at the Gill Odd Fellows Home told state investigators they questioned Whittington’s mental health, with one doctor calling Whittingon’s behavior “unusual and erratic.”