SLO County nurse said she was a doctor. Now she has to pay $20,000 fine, DA says
An Arroyo Grande nurse must pay nearly $20,000 in fines for falsely advertising herself as a doctor in violation of California’s Business and Professions Code, the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release Monday.
According to court documents, Sarah Erny is a licensed nurse practitioner and registered nurse in California. She was never a physician, medical doctor, surgeon, or other medical provider considered a doctor under California state law.
California’s Business and Professions Code prohibits all but a select few health care professionals from calling themselves “doctor” or “physician,” the release said.
The law allows specially trained nurses, such as nurse practitioners — Erny’s license — to use titles such as “certified nurse practitioner” or “advanced practice registered nurse.”
The law is meant to ensure every health care provider’s level of training and licensing is clear to those who seek their services.
“We want all health care professionals to clearly display their education and licensure so that patients know who is providing their care,” San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow said in the release. “All forms of professional medical services advertising, including websites and social media accounts, must be free of deceptive or misleading information and must clearly identify the professional license held by the advertiser.”
“Providing patients upfront with the proper title of our health care professionals aids consumers in making a more informed decision about their health care,” Dow said.
The District Attorney’s Office filed a complaint against Enry on Oct. 27. She agreed to settle on Nov. 4, according to court documents.
Prosecutors: Nurse called herself ‘doctor’ after earning PhD
Enry earned a doctorate in nursing practice from Vanderbilt University and began promoting herself as Dr. Sarah Erny shortly after acquiring the PhD, the complaint alleges.
She also identified herself as Dr. Sarah Erny on her professional website and active social media accounts from October 2019 through March, according to court documents.
Patients began calling Enry “Dr. Sarah” because they were “so proud” of her for earning her doctorate degree, court documents say.
Enry’s supervising physician allegedly told Enry to “own (her) degree” and had his staff call her “Dr. Sarah” in the office and with patients.
Enry opened Holistic Women’s Healing in 2018 and began providing medical services and products to patients online and in a physical office in Arroyo Grande. Her supervising and collaborating physician was an obstetrician-gynecologist, or OBGYN, whose practice was located in Santa Maria.
The supervising doctor would travel from out of state every two to three months for a weekend to review about 20% of Enry’s files, Enry said in court documents.
The nurse reportedly saw eight to 10 patients daily each Monday, Wednesday and Friday in her Arroyo Grande office, where most were unaware that she was being supervised by a licensed doctor.
She also wrote more than 1,600 prescriptions total for more than 250 patients, court documents allege. Nurse practitioners are allowed to prescribe these medications, but it needs to be clear to their patients they are not a licensed doctor.
Erny indicated she was a nurse practitioner in most instances, the release said, but did not advise the public she was not a medical doctor and failed to identify her supervising physician. Online searches allegedly found results for “Dr. Sarah Erny” without mentioning Erny’s status as a nurse practitioner.
The OBGYN and Erny terminated their supervisory business relationship in March.
Erny’s settlement agreement requires her to pay $19,750 in civil liberties fines.
Of that, $16,000 will be allocated to the District Attorney’s Office’s Consumer Protection Trust Fund account, and the remaining $3,750 will help cover the cost of the agency’s investigation.
Ermy must also refrain from referring to herself as “doctor” when she provides medical treatment to the public and make reasonable efforts to correct information about her medical license online, the District Attorney’s Office said.
