The chief health officer at Camp Mystic, where 27 girls and counselors died during catastrophic flooding last year, has temporarily lost her nursing license following allegations that she failed to prepare for emergencies properly and abandoned campers during the disaster.
According to documents released on Wednesday by the Texas Board of Nursing, Mary Elizabeth Eastland failed to establish adequate emergency plans and training procedures for campers, staff, and nurses at the all-girls Christian summer camp along the Guadalupe River.
Regulators alleged Eastland should have been aware of Camp Mystic’s history of severe flooding but “failed to develop and implement an adequate emergency shelter plan and/or evacuation plan,” CBS News Texas reported.
The board further concluded that Eastland’s “lack of emergency preparedness for herself and her camp nurses was likely to injure campers and staff in that it created and/or maintained an unsafe environment and likely resulted in physical harm, emotional harm, psychological harm, and loss of life to campers and staff in an emergency or disaster at Camp Mystic.”
The suspension order stems from the July 4, 2025, flooding that killed 25 campers and two teenage counselors at the camp’s Guadalupe River location.
According to the disciplinary documents, Eastland was serving as a registered nurse, supervising nurse, camp nurse, co-director, and chief health officer when the flooding struck the Texas Hill Country.
The board accused Eastland of several violations, including abandoning campers and staff during the flooding, failing to report the deaths within the required timeframe, improper delegation of medical duties, and violations involving medication handling and medical records.
The document states that Eastland “abandoned the campers and staff when the camp site began to flood at approximately 0200 by evacuating herself and her children to higher ground without providing any assistance or direction,” Fox 4 KDFW reported.
At a hearing in Austin in April tied to lawsuits filed by victims’ families, Eastland testified that she had not officially reported the deaths to the state health agency responsible for regulating camps, despite Texas administrative rules requiring camps to report deaths within 24 hours.
“I did not think of this requirement in the moments happening after the flood,” Eastland testified, CBS News Texas reported.
Eastland also said she could not recall exactly when she learned campers had died, stating it may have been a day or several days after the flooding. Her father-in-law, Richard Eastland, was also killed.
During questioning by attorneys representing victims’ families, Eastland faced accusations that she focused on helping members of her own family during the disaster.
“You had a heightened duty of care and on that night, it didn’t seem like you made a lot of effort to help campers under your care. It seems like you only helped the campers named Eastland. Is that correct?” a lawyer asked.
“My children aren’t campers,” Eastland responded.
“It seems like the only campers you helped were named Eastland,” the attorney continued.
“Those were the only ones I could get to,” Eastland said.
“That’s the only ones you thought about, correct?”
“That’s not true,” Eastland replied.
“You didn’t make a lot of effort to find anybody else.”
“I couldn’t go find anybody else.”
The Texas Board of Nursing determined that “given the nature of the [six] charges, the continued practice of nursing by MARY ELIZABETH EASTLAND constitutes a continuing and imminent threat to public welfare,” according to CBS.
According to the order, a probable cause hearing must occur within 17 days of the May 19 suspension, with a final hearing scheduled within 61 days.
During the April hearing, Eastland testified that she and her family would be willing to step away from operating the camp if it were allowed to remain open. Camp Mystic later announced it would not reopen this summer.
