The surrender of the nursing license of a Gardnerville man accused of molesting sedated patients was accepted Friday by the Nevada State Board of Nursing.
Jason Laurie, 29, is in Carson City Jail on 12 charges from seven female patients who claim he sexually assaulted them while they were under medication in the emergency room at Carson-Tahoe Hospital.
He was arrested Feb. 14 after two women reported their alleged assaults to hospital security guards.
On Feb. 20, Laurie signed a "voluntary surrender of license" document sent to him by the Nursing Board.
"I freely admit that on or about Feb. 14, 2003, I was taken into custody by the Carson City Sheriff's (Department) based on allegations that I sexually assaulted two patients while employed as a registered nurse at Carson-Tahoe Hospital," the document bearing Laurie's signature reads.
"Our job is to protect the public and this is a very serious offense," said Cindy Kimball, public information officer for the nursing board.
Laurie's license was summarily suspended Feb. 19 after Carson-Tahoe Hospital notified the licensing board of Laurie's arrest.
Kimball said he could reapply for a license, but in order to get approval he would have to come before the board and ask for it.
If he were to attempt to get a license in another state, the disciplinary action would be posted on a national data base.
All boards across the nation check the data base before approving licenses, she said.
"That Carson-Tahoe reported the situation to us to quickly, we were able to act fast," she said. "We wanted to make sure we did our job while the criminal proceedings were going on."
Laurie was at the top of his class at Western Nevada Community College when he graduated from the nursing program in 2001 and hired at the hospital right after graduation. He was fired Feb. 17.
