Tyson Foods Nurse Forges License, Practices Illegally For 15 Years
For the past 15 years, a plant nurse at a Tyson Foods medical clinic has been treating patient workers without a license, Shelbyville, Tenn., police report.
Bobbie Gail Blair, 49, has been charged with 10 counts of impersonation of a medical professional and two counts of identity theft after falsely claiming to be licensed, using the license number of legitimate Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN) from elsewhere in Tennessee, Detective Nathaniel Everhart of the Shelbyville police said to a local news source.
Blair, the wife of the Tyson Foods’ plant manager, Andrew Blair, is said to have treated more than 15,000 patients at the clinic since starting in 2007. Marrying years after starting as the nurse, Andrew Blair showed no evidence of having known his wife did not have a nursing license.
Everhart’s investigation shows Blair graduated from the LPN program at Tennessee College of Applied Technology in McMinnville prior to starting at Tyson, however Blair tried and failed the National Council Licensure Exam (NCLEX) twice, denying her a proper nursing license.
While in-house medical clinics are overseen by Tyson’s corporate headquarters nursing staff in Ark., Everhart said Blair provided forged documents, including a fake license using Blair’s legal name.
“The license on file was fake. She forged it. We couldn’t prove who actually forged it, her or someone on her behalf, but she was behind it,” Everhart explains to a local news source.
At the facility, Blair’s duties included treating minor cuts, bruises and burns, dispensing medication not requiring a prescription and other types of minor ailments not requiring a trip outside the plant, Everhart says, while no drugs, specifically opioids, were distributed by Blair.
Regarding the situation, a Tyson spokesperson told a local news source, “We take this issue very seriously. While we don't comment on active criminal matters, as soon as law enforcement reached out, we fully cooperated.”
Everhart echoed that Tyson has been cooperative with law enforcement and forthcoming with the investigation.
Blair was indicted by a Bedford County grand jury on Monday, arrested Friday, Feb. 24, and has been released on $10,000 bond.
