Dawn Marie Leach
v.
Iowa Board of Nursing
Appellant
Dawn Marie Leach
Appellee
Iowa Board of Nursing
Attorney for the Appellant
David L. Brown and Tyler R. Smith
Attorney for the Appellee
Tessa Register, Assistant Attorney General
Court of Appeals
Court of Appeals Opinion
Opinion Number:
Date Published:
Summary
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Michael D. Huppert, Judge. AFFIRMED. Considered by Potterfield, P.J., and Doyle and Tabor, JJ. Opinion by Potterfield, P.J. (8 pages)
Nurse Dawn Leach appeals from the district court’s dismissal of her petition for judicial review challenging the Iowa Board of Nursing’s conclusion she violated the confidentiality or privacy rights of a patient and imposition of a citation and warning. Leach maintains the district court erred in dismissing her petition for judicial review because the Board’s conclusion is based upon an irrational, illogical, or wholly unjustifiable application of law to fact that has clearly been vested by a provision of law in the discretion of the agency and is not supported by substantial evidence in the record before the court when that record is viewed as a whole. OPINION HOLDS: We cannot say the Board’s determination is irrational, illogical, or wholly unjustifiable when it found purposefully accessing confidential patient information that is not needed to perform one’s job duties—without further action—constitutes a violation of patient confidentiality rights. We affirm.
