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More details released involving ETX nurse charged with murder

A charge was brought against the nurse after three incidents at a Tyler hospital that resulted in the death of one patient and left two others in a 'persistent vegetative state.'

CBS19 recently obtained the affidavit on William George Davis, who is being charged with one count of murder.

According to the affidavit, he is linked to one of the two patient deaths being investigated.

The affidavit also states that investigators are looking into one additional death along with the injury of five other patients.

Out of the seven cases under investigation, six of them are men, only one is a woman.

In the 22-page document multiple board certified radiologists say the incidents are not accidental and it appears that air was deliberately introduced into the patients arterial lines.

In addition, the affidavit also specified that a doctor believes that one of the patients died due to air that was forcefully introduced into their system.

Davis was employed by the CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances health system and had been assigned to the Louis and Peaches Owen Heart Hospital since 2013.

An East Texas nurse who until February worked at a Tyler heart hospital has been arrested and charged with murder.

William George Davis, 34, of Hallsville, was booked into the Smith County Jail on Tuesday, and his bond was set at $2 million.

Davis was a registered nurse, whose license was suspended effective March 16, 2018, according to an order from the Texas Board of Nursing.

During a meeting in Austin that day, the board upheld four charges against Davis, all based on incidents that happened while he was a registered nurse with CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Hospital – Tyler and on assignment at the Louis and Peaches Owen Heart Hospital in Tyler.

On three different occasions starting in August 2017, Davis entered the room of a patient to whom he was not assigned and performed an “unskilled and/or unnecessary and/or inappropriate” intervention for the patient, according to the formal charges brought before the Texas Board of Nursing.

In every situation, shortly after his intervention the patient’s condition immediately deteriorated from a stable condition and resuscitative measures were required.

The first patient died and the latter two entered persistent vegetative states.

An autopsy found the first patient suffered a cortical acute ischemic infarction from an air embolism that contributed to the patient’s death, according to the charges.

In each of the first two cases, Davis did not communicate his intervention to the patient’s assigned nurse and/or document the event, according to the formal charges.

In the last incident, which occurred Jan. 25, upon questioning, Davis first admitted to facility management that he entered the patient’s room and silenced a beeping IV, according to the order.

Several days later, he admitted to management that he reset a beeping IV, flushed the arterial line a couple times and pumped up the pressure bag, according to the charges.

Davis did not communicate his intervention to the patient’s assigned nurse and/or document the event, the charge stated.

He was terminated on Feb. 15, 2018 “related to his falsification of care events and his unethical practice related to failure to disclose interventions provided that may have impacted the outcome” of a particular patient, the charges read.

The state board found that “the continued practice of nursing by … Davis … constitutes a continuing and imminent threat to public welfare,” according to the order of temporary suspension.

The Texas Board of Nursing ordered a probable cause hearing be conducted within 17 days of the order and final hearing on the matter within 61 days of the order.

Davis started a GoFundMe page more than two weeks ago indicating his license was temporarily suspended "for misunderstandings, and now, I am having to defend myself before the board in order to keep my license and my career."

He said his passion has always been in cardiology and that he has enjoyed providing care for that patient population the past seven years while he worked toward his goal of becoming an acute care nurse practitioner.

The Tyler Police department will hold a news conference Wednesday at 2 p.m. to discuss the case.

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