From KELOland comes a story worth your reading time about how the death of Chris Hesla, long-time wildlife advocate at the legislature is connected to the recent reprimand of a Pierre physician at St. Mary’s Hospital:
The widow of a Pierre man has come forward to say that she is the person who filed the complaint about questionable patient care which resulted in formal disciplinary action against medical doctor Nielsen Howard Burns.
The South Dakota Board of Medical and Osteopathic Examiners issued a public reprimand of Burns earlier this year.
The information about Burns’ reprimand — his second by the board — was part of a broader KELOLAND News report in July on actions the state board had taken in recent months against seven licensees.
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Colette Hesla reached out to KELOLAND News after the initial story. She said that she had brought the complaint against Burns after the death of her husband, Chris Swen Hesla, of Pierre.
Chris Hesla was a major figure in the outdoors community as the long-time executive director for the South Dakota Wildlife Federation. He had been taken by ambulance from their home to the Avera St. Mary’s Hospital emergency room in Pierre on August 11, 2022.