Camp Mystic health officer loses nursing license after deadly Texas flood killed 27 girls

The chief health officer at Camp Mystic, the Texas summer camp where 27 girls were killed in a flood last year, has lost her nursing license, according to documents from the Texas Board of Nursing released on Wednesday.

According to the board, Mary Elizabeth Eastland "failed to develop and maintain adequate emergency plans and emergency training protocols for campers, staff and camp nurses at Camp Mystic."

The board said Mary Eastland, a member of the family that owns and operates Camp Mystic, should have been aware of Camp Mystic's experiences during previous catastrophic flooding events, but that she "failed to develop and implement an adequate emergency shelter plan and/or evacuation plan."

"[Eastland's] lack of emergency preparedness for herself and her camp nurses was likely to injure campers and staff in that it created and/or maintained an unsafe environment and likely resulted in physical harm, emotional harm, psychological harm, and loss of life to campers and staff in an emergency or disaster at Camp Mystic."

At a hearing in Austin in April, Mary Eastland testified that she still had not officially reported the 27 camp deaths to the state health agency that regulates camps and is reviewing its application to reopen this summer.

Mary Eastland was questioned in a legal fight between the camp operators and families of victims who have filed lawsuits and want the camp to preserve damaged areas as evidence. The hearing produced the most extensive details from camp operators of what happened in the July 4th predawn flood on the Guadalupe River, and the delayed decisions to evacuate until it was too late.

While the deaths of 25 campers and two teenage counselors at the all-girls Christian camp have been widely reported and are not in question, the Texas administrative code requires camps to report deaths to state health regulators within 24 hours.

"I did not think of this requirement in the moments happening after the flood," Mary Eastland said in April, adding she also had not done so leading up to camp's March 31 application to reopen.

Mary Eastland said in April that she could not recall exactly when she learned campers had died, saying it could have been a day or several days after the flood. Richard Eastland, her father-in-law, was also killed.  

Portion of Mary Eastland's testimony on April 14

Lawyer: "You had a heightened duty of care and on that night, it didn't seem like you made a lot of effort to help campers under your care. It seems like you only helped the campers named Eastland. Is that correct"?

Mary Eastland: "My children aren't campers." 

Lawyer: "It seems like the only campers you helped were named Eastland." 

Mary Eastland: "Those were the only ones I could get to."

Lawyer: "Those are the only ones you thought about, correct?"

Mary Eastland: "That's not true."

Lawyer: "You didn't make a lot of effort to find anybody else." 

Mary Eastland: "I couldn't go find anybody else."   

Camp Mystic nurse suspended after deadly flood failures  

During the hearing in Austin in April, Mary Eastland said that she and her family would be willing to step back from operating the camp as long as it was allowed to stay open, but didn't say who would take over.

The board concluded that "given the nature of the [six] charges, the continued practice of nursing by MARY ELIZABETH EASTLAND constitutes a continuing and imminent threat to public welfare" and that the temporary suspension of her nursing license is justified.

Camp Mystic released the following statement via attorney Joshua Fiveson: 

"This is a sad day for Mrs. Eastland as well as every licensed nurse in Texas. Mrs. Eastland has admirably committed herself to service of others for the last eighteen years. Yet the Texas Board of Nursing decided to summarily suspend her right to practice without the benefit of testimony, evidence or a complete investigation. Mrs. Eastland received notice of her summary proceeding less than twenty-four hours before it took place, and what followed had nothing to do with public protection. This was an exercise in premature punishment. But judgments should not precede process in an ordered system of justice. Mrs. Eastland rejects the Board's allegations and looks forward to defending her rights before the State Office of Administrative Hearings."

The board said a probable cause hearing will be held no later than 17 days after the suspension was issued on May 19 and a final hearing no later than 61 days.