It's one of the state’s first actions against a member of the family that owns and operates the all-girls Christian camp since the July 4 flood. Last month, Camp Mystic canceled plans to reopen this summer in the face of outrage from victims' parents.
Mary Liz Eastland, a registered nurse, served as the camp’s medical officer. She has previously acknowledged in court that she never tried to reach children and staff in the low-lying area of the camp as the predawn flooding along the Guadalupe River worsened. Her father-in-law, Camp Mystic owner Richard Eastland, also died in the flood.
Allowing Mary Liz Eastland to keep practicing nursing would constitute a “continuing and imminent threat to public welfare," according to an order signed Tuesday by Kristin Benton, executive director of the Texas Board of Nursing.
Eastland “abandoned the campers and staff when the camp site began to flood ... by evacuating herself and her children to higher ground without providing any assistance or direction to all of the other campers and staff,” the order reads.
Eastland rejects the findings and will fight the suspension, said Camp Mystic attorney Joshua Fiveson. He said the board suspended her license with less than a day’s notice of a hearing and without taking testimony or conducting a full investigation.
“This is a sad day for Mrs. Eastland as well as every licensed nurse in Texas,” Fiveson said. “This was an exercise in premature punishment.”
According to the order, the board will issue a final decision on her license within two months.
