Board panel recommends revocation of nurse Tabitha Mucci’s registration after finding mental-health and recordkeeping deficiencies

A three-member panel of the Board of Examiners for Nursing recommended that the registration of Tabitha Mucci be revoked after concluding the Department of Public Health proved that Mucci had an emotional disorder that affected her practice and failed to maintain required treatment records. The panel also noted Mucci’s license had lapsed in 2022.

The recommendation followed a fact-finding session in which the panel reviewed the hearing record, investigative reports and an affidavit cited by the department. Lisa Freeman, a panel member who opened the fact-finding portion of the session, said the board would “base their findings solely upon the evidence in the record” and that the record for testimony was formally closed before deliberations.

The amended statement of charges, read by a department representative, cited Connecticut General Statutes 19A-10 and 19A-14 and listed the Department of Public Health as the charging party. The document identified the respondent as Tabitha Mucci and included registration number 144042 and APRN number 007256. Department counsel argued during closing that the respondent had a mental illness, had not produced records to substantiate treatment, and therefore the department was asking for revocation.

“...the department is asking for revocation,” Attorney Newton said in closing remarks.

Mucci addressed the panel before deliberations, thanking them for hearing her and for reviewing exhibits. “Thank you for hearing me and for reading my exhibit and . . . I will abide by whatever decision that you go by,” she said.

Panel deliberations considered multiple counts in the statement of charges. The record reflects the panel found by a preponderance of the evidence that Mucci had one or more emotional disorders that could affect nursing practice and that she failed to maintain accurate treatment records in several cases. The panel did not find sufficient evidence to sustain allegations of patient abandonment or broader allegations of inappropriate unprofessional conduct on every disputed subcount; the transcript records that the department did not meet its burden on subcounts labeled 6B and 6C.

Members debated an appropriate remedy. Some members said that failure to maintain documentation and a lapsed license left revocation as the available remedy; others expressed concern that isolated documentation lapses alone did not necessarily rise to the level of unprofessional conduct. After discussion, a motion to revoke the registration was made, seconded and carried by the panel. The transcript records all voting members as voting in favor.

The panel announced statutory findings citing Connecticut General Statutes 20-99B (including subsections referenced in the record) and stated its recommendation of revocation. Lisa Freeman said the panel’s decision would be reduced to a proposed memorandum of decision to be presented to the full board; the memorandum will govern the final outcome if there is any conflict with the fact-finding record. Mucci and other parties will have the opportunity to review and, if desired, contest the proposed memorandum before the full board considers it.

The fact-finding record is closed and the panel adjourned. The panel’s recommendation is not a final administrative order until the full board issues and adopts a memorandum of decision.