(Photo courtesy of the Iowa Board of Nursing)
An Iowa nurse who last year was criminally convicted of enticing a child to provide him with photos or videos of a sexual nature has agreed to surrender his license.
In July, the Iowa Board of Nursing charged registered nurse Christopher Ingraham of Spirit Lake with one count of being convicted of an offense that directly related to the duties of the profession, and one count of engaging in behavior that was contradictory to professional decorum.
Recently, the board reached a settlement agreement with Ingraham that makes no mention of the first charge, but resolves the second charge. As part of that settlement, Ingraham agreed to surrender his license. The agreement stipulates that he cannot apply for reinstatement of his license within the next five years.
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Court records indicate that in July 2022 Ingraham, then 47, was criminally charged with the felony offense of enticing a child for sexual purposes. In their report, Spirit Lake police alleged that in February 2020, Ingraham engaged in an electronic communication with an individual who was under the age of 16 “in an attempt to obtain images and/or video” of the child, although he knew the child was under the age of 16.
In their report, the police alleged Ingraham did so “with the intent to commit an illegal sex act upon, or sexual exploitation of, the minor.”
Court records show that in May 2023, Ingraham pleaded guilty to the charge and was given a five-year suspended prison sentence and fined $1,025. He was placed on probation for two years.
Other Iowa nurses recently sanctioned by the board include:
— Sheryl Puderbaugh of Peru, who was charged with failing to assess, accurately document, evaluate, or report the status of a patient or client; willful or repeated departure from the minimum standards of practice; failure to meet the standards pertaining to patients’ health records, and failure to meet the standards of advanced registered nurse practitioners.
According to the board, Puderbaugh runs a solo practice focused on homebirth and also provides clients with prenatal, birth, and postpartum care. The board alleges she was acting as the attending midwife for a 26- year-old client in February 2022 when the client went into labor.
The board alleges that when the patient transferred to an acute care hospital, Puderbaugh failed to notify the hospital of the incoming transfer and failed to provide her client with care en route to the hospital. The publicly available board documents give no indication as to whether the client or the baby were harmed.
The board also alleges Puderbaugh failed to maintain patient prenatal health records and failed to provide these records to the board when they were requested, and that she failed to document a mother’s vital signs during the labor process.
In a settlement agreement with the board, Puderbaugh agreed to pay a $500 civil penalty and surrender her licenses as a registered nurse and an advanced registered nurse practitioner. She will be allowed to seek reinstatement of her licenses in one year.
— Dawn O’Neill of central Iowa, who was working in the Des Moines area at an unspecified health care facility at some unspecified point in time when the board fielded a complaint about her “medication discrepancies” and her process of discarding unused medications. The board subsequently charged O’Neill with misappropriating, or attempted to misappropriate, patient medications and with failing to accurately document patients’ status. As part of a settlement agreement with the board, O’Neill recently agreed to continue her ongoing participation in the Iowa Nursing Assistance Program and to comply with all requirements of the program.
— Peyton Hantelman of Armstrong, who was employed at an unspecified clinic at some unspecified point in time when she administered what the board calls “prescription aesthetic medication” to an individual outside of her employment and without the authorization or supervision of a licensed professional who had prescriptive authority. The board charged Hantelman with performing nursing services beyond the authorized scope of practice for which she was licensed. As part of a settlement agreement with the board, Hantelman was recently issued a warning and ordered to complete a continuing education course related to medical errors. Hantelman operates PRO Aesthetics, a clinic that offers Botox injections and fillers, in northern Iowa.
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