Texas Nursing Board Suspends Camp Mystic Director’s License

The Texas Board of Nursing has suspended the license of a camp director for her actions during a catastrophic flood last summer that killed 25 girls and two teenage counselors. The board accused Mary Liz Eastland, the medical officer and co-director of the all-girls Camp Mystic, of abandoning campers and staff during the emergency.

The board’s order, signed Tuesday by Executive Director Kristin Benton, states that Eastland evacuated herself and her children to higher ground as the camp flooded without providing assistance or direction to others. The order concludes that allowing her to continue practicing nursing would constitute a continuing and imminent threat to public welfare. The predawn flooding along the Guadalupe River on July 4 inundated the camp, which is owned and operated by the Eastland family. The camp’s owner, Richard Eastland, who was Mary Liz Eastland’s father-in-law, also died in the flood.

Eastland rejects the findings and will fight the suspension, according to Camp Mystic attorney Joshua Fiveson. He criticized the board’s action, stating the license was suspended with less than a day’s notice for a hearing and without taking testimony or a full...