We have some good news for lawyers who specialize in medical malpractice law!
Thanks to a tip via the Ogle Mole Network, we’ve learned that Steve Mullins was recently named the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Osteopathic Board.
The appointment is anything but sterile, as it appears Mullins’s only experience with the medical profession is from when he infamously and secretly tried to force the state into using the wrong execution drugs on Richard Glossip.
Here’s a screenshot of the announcement that was emailed out on Friday:
After doing some quick research, I'm not 100% sure if Governor Stitt or the board hired Mullins, but since Stitt gets to appoint the board members, I'm going to give him credit for this hysterical move to put a lawyer in charge of doctors. What a great way to stoke that occupational rivalry between the left and right brains, huh? It’s also why I’m calling for Dr. George Monks M.D. to be appointed the next Executive Director of the Oklahoma Bar Association.
What’s not hysterical, however, is that Mullins is a lawyer who once had to resign as Mary Fallin’s legal counsel because he clandestinely tried to have the state use the wrong drugs to execute a man who, by the way, a lot of credible people believe is innocent.
In fact, a grand jury claimed what Mullins did was “unacceptable” and that he “flippantly and recklessly” disregarded the rights of Glossip.
Here are more details via The Intercept:
The actions of the governor’s general counsel at the time, Steve Mullins, are particularly damning. Despite the state’s previous denials, the report confirms what local investigative journalists found last year, that Mullins pushed to proceed with Glossip’s execution even after discovering the prison had obtained the wrong drug. “Google it,” Mullins told the attorney general’s office over the phone about the drug potassium acetate, arguing that it was interchangeable with potassium chloride. Confronted with evidence that Charles Warner had been erroneously killed using potassium acetate, Mullins argued that stopping Glossip’s execution “would look bad for the state of Oklahoma,” because authorities would be forced to admit they had carried out an execution with the wrong drug.
Know what else looks bad for the state of Oklahoma? Putting a guy like that in charge of approving and denying licenses for doctors!
Seriously, I can only imagine what will happen at the next Osteopathic Examiners board meeting…
“Well, Dr. Magoo. It looks like you carelessly prescribed the wrong drugs to multiple patients leading to their untimely deaths.”
“Yes. It was an accident Mr. Mullins. It won’t happen again.”
“Sounds good. Your license is extended for another two years. Keep up the great work!”
Seriously, this Mullins guy is such a screw-up that he was even admonished by the Lord of Screw Ups – Former Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt.
Via The Frontier:
Attorney General Scott Pruitt issued a statement after the report was released: “Today, I regret to advise the citizens of Oklahoma that the Department of Corrections failed to do its job. As is evident in the report from the multicounty grand jury, a number of individuals responsible for carrying out the execution process were careless, cavalier and in some circumstances dismissive of established procedures that were intended to guard against the very mistakes that occurred… When the state fails to do its job in carrying out an execution, the ability to dispense justice is impaired for all. This must never happen again.”
Call me old-fashioned and mentally competent, but I think the guy who’s put in charge of D.O.s should be the opposite of careless, cavalier and “dismissive of established procedures.”
Then again, what do I know – I’m just a guy who values and respects science and the modern medical profession.
Basically, I’m not the numbskull Governor of Oklahoma.
Of course, the very traits and background that should disqualify Mullins as unfit for the job are the same ones that likely appealed to Stitt and his board.
As both his banking background and that whole global pandemic thing taught us, Stitt turns his nose up at procedures and protocols, especially when they have to do with medicine and science, so I’m sure Mullin’s resume made Ole Stitter smile like watching a poor kid going hungry. In fact, I bet Mullins' first task as Executive Director will be to find out which drugs and antibiotics can be swapped out with our state’s supply of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
