Minutes of the

North Carolina State Board of Optometry

February 11- 13, 2005

Jane McKimmon Center

North Carolina State University

Raleigh, North Carolina

 

 

The North Carolina State Board of Examiners in Optometry met at the Jane McKimmon Center on the campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina on Friday, February 11 through Sunday, February 13, 2005 to conduct the Board’s Winter 2005 examinations and for other purposes.  Present were Dr. Joel Banks, President, Ms. Trudy Mitchell, Secretary-Treasurer, and Drs. David Anderson, David Baxter, Scott Edwards and William Rafferty, Members of the Board.  Also present were Dr. John Robinson, the Board’s Executive Director, Ms. Janice Peterson, the Administrative Secretary, and Ms. Sara Roberts, the Administrative Assistant.  Present during the lunch break on Saturday was Mr. Johnny Loper, the Board’s Attorney.  Present as Clinical Examiners were Drs. Tom Bull, Michael Clark, Kenneth Bumgarner, Ania Hamp, David King, Don MacQueen, Magda Metwalli, Sandra Moore, Eric Oberdorf, and Robert Rosenstein.

 

Beginning at 10:30 A.M. on Friday morning,  Members of the Board, Clinical Examiners and Staff met at the McKimmon Center to set up the examination stations and to briefly review the examination format and scoring. 

 

The first examination session began promptly as scheduled on Friday afternoon, February 11th at 2:00 P.M.

 

The following individuals, their applications having been approved, appeared for examination:

 

                                    Allan Adkins, O.D.

                                    Chinwendu Anukwuem, O.D.

                                    E. Neil Barentine, O.D.

                                    Lisa T. Bell, O.D.

                                    Eugene Benfield, O.D.

                                    David Brown, O.D.

                                    Brandi Chavis, O.D.

                                    Geeta Chowdhary, O.D.

                                    Diana Douglas, O.D.

                                    Andrew Gregory, O.D.

                                    Mala Gundecha, O.D.

                                    Susan Holt, O.D.

                                    Michael Johnson, O.D.

                                    Jee Me Kim, O.D.

                                    Mandy Lanier, O.D.

                                    Joyce McDonald, O.D.

                                    Lee McPherson, O.D.

                                    Cosmin Negrut, O.D.

                                    W. Bruce Pope, O.D.

                                    Jenifer Ramsower, O.D.

                                    Michelle Reames, O.D.

                                    James Reynolds, O.D.

                                    James Schamu, O.D.

                                    Eva Shiau Singletary, O.D.

                                    Arun Subramanian, O.D.

                                    Tuyen Tran, O.D.

                                    Samantha K. Ward, O.D.

                                    Aaron Westerlund, O.D.

 

The President called the first meeting of the Board to order at 6:30 P.M. on

Friday evening.

 

On a motion by Dr. Anderson and seconded by Dr. Baxter, the Minutes of the November 10-14, 2004 meeting were unanimously approved.

 

The Secretary-Treasurer presented the Budget Report for the period July 1, 2004 through February 9, 2005.  Following a brief period of discussion and the answering of questions by Ms. Mitchell and members of the Staff, Dr. Baxter moved that the report of the Secretary-Treasurer be accepted.  The motion was seconded by Dr. Edwards and carried unanimously.

 

In his report, the Executive Director reported that there were several active investigations in progress, two of which have been scheduled for informal or pre-hearing conferences in early March. One of the matters concerned an investigation that has been ongoing for a considerable period of time awaiting more credible evidence before citing the individual optometrist for a hearing.

 

A graduate of the Inter-American University School of Optometry applied to take the Board and paid the $ 800.00 application.  She was contacted several weeks before the date the examinations were to start concerning the fact that the Board had not received her National Board Scores.  It was at this point that it was learned that she had never taken the National Boards, therefore not eligible to take the North Carolina licensing examinations.  She contended that someone whom she could not identify at the Board had told her that because of the fact that she was already licensed in Puerto Rico, she was not required to take the National Boards.  There would be no likelihood that any of the Board Staff would have imparted this information to her.  Having said this and because of the possibility that difficulty with the English language could have played a part in her misunderstanding, it is recommended that the application fee in the amount of $ 800.00 be refunded to her.  Without objection, the President instructed the Staff to refund the application fee to this individual. 

 

On a motion by Ms. Mitchell, seconded by Dr. Rafferty and carried unanimously the report of the Executive Director was accepted.

 

At 2:00 PM on Saturday on a motion by Dr. Baxter, seconded by Dr. Anderson and carried unanimously the Board went into closed session in accordance with the provisions of NCGS 143-318.1 (a)(3) to hear a report and receive advice from its attorney, Mr. Loper,  concerning the “injections” law suit and related litigation issues.

 

Before addressing the current status of the lawsuit, Mr. Loper reported on the January 14, 2005, court-ordered mediation that was held in the offices of the Board counsel in Raleigh, North Carolina, in the “injections” lawsuit.  Attending on behalf of the Board were Board President, Dr. Joel Banks, Board members Dr. David Anderson and Dr. Scott Edwards, Board Executive Director Dr. John Robinson, and Board counsel Johnny Loper.  Attending on behalf of the Medical Board were Board member Dr. Edwin Swann,  Board Executive Director David Henderson, and Board counsel Thom Mansfield, Amy Bason and Marcus Jimison.  The mediation was conducted by attorney Jim Billings of Raleigh.  After each party presented its view of the case and the issues raised by the pleadings, Mr. Billings conducted individual negotiations with the parties.  The mediation impassed after several hours of negotiations and terminated without an agreement to resolve the litigation.

 

Mr. Loper then reported on the status of the lawsuit.  Mr. Loper and the Board also discussed issues relating to an appeal filed by the Medical Societies and others and a declaratory ruling request filed with the Medical Board by the Medical Societies and others, and discussed potential actions on the part of the Optometry Board.  Once the report from counsel and discussions on status and strategy were completed, the Board returned to open session on a motion by Dr. Anderson that was seconded by Dr. Baxter and carried unanimously.

 

The Board then voted unanimously to instruct the Board’s counsel to take action to enjoin the declaratory ruling action sought by the Medical Society.

 

On a motion by Dr. Baxter, seconded by Dr. Rafferty, and carried unanimously the Board authorized payment of the hotel, travel and meal expenses for the Clinical Examiners and that they be given an honorarium in the amount of  $200.00 a day for each of the 3 days spent at the Winter 2005 Clinical/Practicum Examinations.

                                   

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board to review the results of the Winter 2005 Examinations and for other purposes will be held at the offices of the Board in Wallace, North Carolina beginning on Saturday, March 19, 2005 and ending no later than 2:00 PM on Sunday March 20, 2005.

                                                           

 

 

                                                                                                                                                Approved 03/19/2005