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More than a year after Colorado Springs and Memorial Hospital officials publicly accused a self-proclaimed psychic nurse of illegally accessing patient records, Lori Niell hasn’t been arrested or charged with any crime. She proclaims her innocence but said that no one believes her because she’s never had the chance to defend herself in the legal system. She can’t get a nursing job because of the allegations and potential clients for her psychic business think she’s a fraud after reading media reports, she said. “I’m out of money, my reputation has been trashed… I’m at the end of my rope,” she said. “I would like to be charged or not charged so I can move on with my life.” In July 2011, hospital and city officials told the media that Niell had illegally accessed more than 2,500 Memorial Hospital patient records through the Physician Link patient database. Hospital officials said Niell, who worked for the city for eight years, had no medical or other work-related reason for accessing the records. During the investigation, Niell quit her job but said she was told she would be fired if she did not leave. To investigate the case, police executed a guns-drawn search warrant at her house, taking her computer, journals and other paperwork, she said. Officials at the time said they didn’t believe the patient records were accessed to commit identity fraud but rather for “personal reasons.” Niell said they think she accessed the records to obtain personal information about patients and then used it to convince them she’s a psychic. She denies those claims and believes she was targeted because her intuitive abilities made her superiors uncomfortable around her. She admitted she accessed a few records for non-work reasons — such as to get phone numbers or addresses of friends or family members — but denies the wide-scale access she’s been accused of. Niell said a Colorado Springs police detective told her the case had been passed onto the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office to review. She said she’s called the office several times but no one told her the status of her case. On Tuesday, after inquiries were made by a reporter, an office spokeswoman said the DA’s office never received the case. It remains in the hands of Colorado Springs police, who said it is an active investigation and part of a backlog of cases being investigated by the department’s computer forensic investigators. In an email to The Gazette, Lt. Mark Comte said the department has just two computer forensic investigators and their primary duty is to investigate internet crimes against children. “Since the case in question does not involve a threat or danger to a child or others, it was not placed high on the priority list for examination,” he wrote, adding that this week nine warrants were served to seize computers in child pornography cases. “As one can thus determine, the two forensic examiners are quite busy.” Niell contends that officials wasted no time accusing her of a crime but don’t seem to be in any hurry to prove the accusations. To her it’s simple. There have been no charges because no one has found any proof that she’s done anything wrong, she said. Now, she says, she’s looking for a lawyer. “It doesn’t take a psychic to figure out what’s happened here.” Read more: http://www.gazette.com/articles/nurse-1418...l#ixzz20ybz5APh |
| QUOTE (sherry @ Jul 18 2012, 01:44 PM) |
| Another fraud to give bad names to the genuine ones! |
