- N
My name is Dave Huff and I'm creating this campaign to help my Stepmom Carolyn Huff who is fighting two separate herculean battles - a battle with cancer and a legal battle to protect medical professionals who report people that are physically or sexually abusing children.
Carolyn is a grandmother of 8 and spent 36 years as a nurse after graduating from Johns Hopkins University. In the 20+ years I've known her, she's been a therapist operating a private practice primarily focused on helping children.
A few years ago the mother of a child brought the child to see Carolyn and it came to light that the child was being abused by the father. Carolyn reported the abuse to the authorities as mandated by law. The abusive father then claimed that the child had been treated without his permission and the Maryland Board of Nursing suspended Carolyn's license without a hearing. They didn't let her speak a single word in her defense.
She's been fighting a legal battle for years to get this decision overturned and the main purpose of this campaign is to get her the money she needs to bring this case to court. Her patients love her and she just wants to get healthy and get back to helping them. But more importantly, it sets a dangerous precedent that encourages abusers to discredit professionals/mandated reporters by reporting them to their medical boards.
On top of this legal nightmare, she was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In September she had surgery to relieve some of the problems the tumor was causing with her liver, but the tumor itself in its current state is inoperable. As of early October, she's started chemotherapy in the hopes that the tumor can be reduced in size and eventually removed.
Caroyln has helped so, so many people and with your help she'll be able to get back to doing what she loves and we can protect the rights of professionals that report abuse.
I've asked my Dad to provide a more detailed summary of the legal history and have included that below.
Many thanks!
Dave
· After Carolyn reported child abuse, the abuser filed a complaint with the Maryland Board of Nursing in order to stop her from testifying.
· The Board Staff, working closely with the abuser, fabricated charges against her and fabricated an emergency so they could suspend her license without giving her a hearing in front of the members of the board, which is required by law. The Board voted to suspend her license three times without ever hearing a single piece of evidence from her.
· When they wouldn’t give her a hearing in front of the Board members, Carolyn filed a Federal lawsuit.
· Then they gave her a hearing in front of an Administrative Law Judge, which lasted seven days and cost about $80,000. But they only allowed the judge to findings of fact, but not to apply the rule of law.
So, when the judge didn’t find any evidence to support their charges, they threw out the judge’s findings, made up new charges, and found her guilty.
· The Board Staff was desperate to find something to discredit Carolyn with the voting board members. They illegally forced Carolyn to be evaluated by a psychiatrist and a neuropsychologist. They fabricated a bizarre, crazy story about the mother of one of Carolyn’s patients running away and hiding under a car to escape Carolyn and put that in a letter to the medical evaluators. When she was cleared, they threw out those findings too.
· If they can spend over $600,000, take more than four and one half years, cut off the medical treatment of her patients twice, they can do it to anybody. No professional’s license is safe.
· The number of children who are going to be abused will increase dramatically because medical professionals will not report.
· Carolyn’s only chance now is to appeal the Board’s decision in the regular courts, where at least she will be able to present directly to the judge. With the Board of Nursing, only the prosecutor got to present her case to the voting board members.
· But by tricking Carolyn into having a false hearing, they used up all our money. We need money for the appeal.
Carolyn is a grandmother of 8 and spent 36 years as a nurse after graduating from Johns Hopkins University. In the 20+ years I've known her, she's been a therapist operating a private practice primarily focused on helping children.
A few years ago the mother of a child brought the child to see Carolyn and it came to light that the child was being abused by the father. Carolyn reported the abuse to the authorities as mandated by law. The abusive father then claimed that the child had been treated without his permission and the Maryland Board of Nursing suspended Carolyn's license without a hearing. They didn't let her speak a single word in her defense.
She's been fighting a legal battle for years to get this decision overturned and the main purpose of this campaign is to get her the money she needs to bring this case to court. Her patients love her and she just wants to get healthy and get back to helping them. But more importantly, it sets a dangerous precedent that encourages abusers to discredit professionals/mandated reporters by reporting them to their medical boards.
On top of this legal nightmare, she was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In September she had surgery to relieve some of the problems the tumor was causing with her liver, but the tumor itself in its current state is inoperable. As of early October, she's started chemotherapy in the hopes that the tumor can be reduced in size and eventually removed.
Caroyln has helped so, so many people and with your help she'll be able to get back to doing what she loves and we can protect the rights of professionals that report abuse.
I've asked my Dad to provide a more detailed summary of the legal history and have included that below.
Many thanks!
Dave
· After Carolyn reported child abuse, the abuser filed a complaint with the Maryland Board of Nursing in order to stop her from testifying.
· The Board Staff, working closely with the abuser, fabricated charges against her and fabricated an emergency so they could suspend her license without giving her a hearing in front of the members of the board, which is required by law. The Board voted to suspend her license three times without ever hearing a single piece of evidence from her.
· When they wouldn’t give her a hearing in front of the Board members, Carolyn filed a Federal lawsuit.
· Then they gave her a hearing in front of an Administrative Law Judge, which lasted seven days and cost about $80,000. But they only allowed the judge to findings of fact, but not to apply the rule of law.
So, when the judge didn’t find any evidence to support their charges, they threw out the judge’s findings, made up new charges, and found her guilty.
· The Board Staff was desperate to find something to discredit Carolyn with the voting board members. They illegally forced Carolyn to be evaluated by a psychiatrist and a neuropsychologist. They fabricated a bizarre, crazy story about the mother of one of Carolyn’s patients running away and hiding under a car to escape Carolyn and put that in a letter to the medical evaluators. When she was cleared, they threw out those findings too.
· If they can spend over $600,000, take more than four and one half years, cut off the medical treatment of her patients twice, they can do it to anybody. No professional’s license is safe.
· The number of children who are going to be abused will increase dramatically because medical professionals will not report.
· Carolyn’s only chance now is to appeal the Board’s decision in the regular courts, where at least she will be able to present directly to the judge. With the Board of Nursing, only the prosecutor got to present her case to the voting board members.
· But by tricking Carolyn into having a false hearing, they used up all our money. We need money for the appeal.
Organizer and beneficiary
Carolyn Huff
Beneficiary