Innocence Project Files Complaint to Revoke Dr. Hayne's Medical License
I'll have more on Mississippi's wacky medical examiner Dr. Steven Hayne over the next few days. But today, the national and Mississippi Innocence Projects have filed a whopping 1,000-page complaint to the Mississippi Board of State Medical Licensure calling for the revocation of Hayne's medical license.
The report "outlines several violations – spanning two decades – of the Mississippi state law that regulates medical practice," including the Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks cases, as well as several of the cases I first reported for reason last October.
From the press release:
"Steven Hayne's long history of misconduct, incompetence and fraud has sent truly innocent people to death row or to prison for life. This is precisely why regulations are in place to revoke medical licenses. Steven Hayne should never practice medicine in Mississippi again, and the complaint we filed today is an important step toward restoring integrity in forensic science statewide – and restoring confidence in the state's criminal justice system," said Peter Neufeld, Co-Director of the Innocence Project.
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"We have only presented the tip of the iceberg to the State Board of Medical Licensure, but this evidence shows Steven Hayne's unprofessional, dishonorable and unethical conduct that has deceived, defrauded and harmed the public," said W. Tucker Carrington, Director of the Mississippi Innocence Project.
The complaint filed today says, "We believe the conduct in this complaint alone is sufficient to justify immediate revocation of Dr. Hayne's license … His work compromises the accuracy and integrity of medicine and criminal justice throughout the state. We urge you to put an end to his misconduct through an expeditious, thorough investigation of his work and revocation of his license."
In February, I spoke with the head of the Mississippi State Medical Association, who said she would move to revoke Hayne's membership in that organization.
