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Board panel hears testimony alleging boundary breaches, record-signing and possible fraud by APRN Ralph Hirschfeld
Summary
The Board of Examiners for Nursing heard testimony May 27 alleging APRN Ralph Hirschfeld stepped outside clinical boundaries by providing temporary shelter and housing assistance to a former patient, entered a post-treatment relationship sooner than recommended, and retroactively signed patient records; the panel closed the record and will issue a decision later.
The Board of Examiners for Nursing convened a panel hearing on May 27, 2026, to consider three counts against Ralph Hirschfeld, RN, APRN, including allegations that he failed to follow standards of care in handling a vulnerable patient, entered into post-treatment personal contact and housing arrangements, and signed patient records or acted as medical director for a medical spa without appropriate documentation.
Chair Gina Reiners, who identified herself as a board member and chair of the panel, opened the session and confirmed the respondent would proceed with testimony. Attorney Kataya, appearing for the Department of Public Health, presented cross-examination and closing argument on behalf of the Department.
The Department alleged that in November 2023 Hirschfeld met patient 1 outside a standard clinical setting, placed the patient in temporary motel housing rather than directing emergency services, and later cosigned a lease and entered a personal relationship within months of treatment ending. "He stepped outside of his professional boundaries," Attorney Kataya told the panel, arguing those actions and related contacts with the patient violated accepted professional standards and the consultant's guidance recommending a two-year moratorium on romantic contact after termination of treatment in cases involving mental health or substance-abuse care.
Hirschfeld acknowledged signing some early charts to assist the patient with insurance and said his role at CBHA was limited to medication management rather than psychotherapy. He told the panel the patient declined emergency care and that the motel placement was intended as temporary shelter while she awaited admission to a detox or substance-abuse program. "It was still the standard of care to get them into substance abuse if there was no emergency," he said, describing his acts as efforts to secure treatment access rather than as emergent hospitalization.
On the third count, the Department pointed to patient records and text messages in exhibits it submitted and argued those materials show Hirschfeld either acted as medical director in fact or allowed himself to be represented as such. Kataya noted the respondent's signature appears on department exhibits and asserted there is no reasonable explanation for those signatures if he did not act in a director role. Hirschfeld disputed those conclusions, saying earlier charts were prepared under a prior medical director and that he had not signed records in a way that indicated management of the business; he said he plans to file a fraud complaint regarding the documents and communications he described as inconsistent or misleading.
Board member Reiners pressed Hirschfeld for a chronological foundation of patient 1's care, detailing contacts with HighWatch and VA outpatient programs in late 2023, an inpatient stay in Brockton in early 2024, a CBHA discharge in early 2024, and an April 2024 lease that the Department links to subsequent personal contact. Reiners, a psych NP with a doctorate who identified herself as chair, emphasized that even medication-management relationships create a provider–patient power imbalance that requires professional boundaries.
The Department requested revocation of Hirschfeld's nursing licenses or other discipline under Connecticut law, citing the panel's statutory authority. Hirschfeld, who said he has been suspended for four months, reiterated his long clinical history and asked the panel to weigh that record and his statements that he provided only limited med-management care.
All documents and testimony were entered and the record was closed; the panel said it would not make a finding the same day and will notify participants when it has scheduled the deliberation and decision. The board left open the possibility that the matter could be placed on a future full board agenda for final action.
Next steps: the panel will review exhibits and testimony and announce its finding at a later date. No final disciplinary outcome was issued during the May 27 session.
