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March 22, 2009

Settlement resolves wrongful firing claim

Staff writer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A settlement of nearly $100,000 has been paid to former West Virginia Public Employees Grievance Board administrative law judge Tom Gillooly to resolve his wrongful firing claim.

Gillooly was fired without explanation by the board in August, one month after he had raised questions with the West Virginia State Bar about two other board ALJs, Brenda Gould and Denise Spatafore, having inactive status as lawyers.

Board of Risk and Insurance Management Director Chuck Jones confirmed that BRIM paid $93,817.35 in settlement and lost wages to Gillooly.

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1 Comments

Posted By: EdWhite (2:31pm 03-22-2009)

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Your statement that optometrists have 4 years of "vocational training" reveals a lack of research and I would consider it shoddy journalism. The first two years of optometry school are very similar to medical school. At some universities, the two programs take mutual courses in anatomy and other basic medical sciences. The difference is in the third and fourth years. Optometry students study eye and vision issues full time, while medical students participate in rotations in various specialties. After graduation the medical student has a year of internship followed by three years of residency studying ophthalmology.
Optometry recognizes that ophthalmologists should be the ones to perform deep incisional surgery. The intent of this legislation is to allow optometrists to perform minor procedures such as removing skin lesions, along with limited laser treatments. The bill asks only that optometrists be allowed to perform procedures taught by accredited colleges of optometry.