Attorney General Coakley Files Suit Against Unlicensed Nursing Education Providers, USA

Main Category: Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Also Included In: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 08 Sep 2007 - 1:00 PDT

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Attorney General Martha Coakley's Office has filed a lawsuit against an Indiana-based seller of educational materials, and the Massachusetts operator of a nursing program that was not approved by the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing or the Department of Education. The complaint, filed yesterday in Suffolk Superior Court, names Distance Learning Systems Indiana, Inc. ("DLSI") and Nurse Crews, MA, Inc, Nurse Crews LLC Center for Resource Education and Staffing, ("Nurse Crews") and their principal, Emily J. Cruz, as defendants. The complaint asserts that Nurse Crews and Ms. Cruz offered training for students in nursing without obtaining appropriate licensing from the Department of Education or the Board of Registration in Nursing. The Attorney General's Complaint seeks to bar the defendants from operating any nursing education programs unless they have been approved by appropriate state agencies and requests restitution for affected consumers, civil penalties and the costs of investigation.

"Nurses are in great demand and short supply in the United States," said Attorney General Martha Coakley. "It is unfortunate that some individuals are taking advantage of this situation to persuade students to enroll in unsanctioned programs. Our office will work together with the appropriate agencies to ensure that consumers and students are protected against unapproved providers."

The complaint asserts that together with DLSI, Nurse Crews and Ms. Cruz engaged in deceptive advertising and solicitation to prospective students, deliberately blurring the lines between their programs and materials and those of bona fide educational institutions, in order to induce consumers to enroll in classes and to purchase study materials. Allegedly, the defendants misrepresented to students that they were somehow connected to or working in coordination with Excelsior College, an independent, not-for-profit education corporation incorporated by the Board of Regents of the State of New York. The training programs closed abruptly with only one day's notice to students in February, 2007, leaving students with no alternative, and no refunds for the often multiple thousands of dollars they had paid for programs they had been led to believe would lead to degrees in nursing.

Assistant Attorney General Diane Lawton and Investigators Nicholas Paras and David Hall, of Attorney General Coakley's Consumer Protection Division are handling this matter.

http://www.ago.state.ma.us