Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota), the chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, is seeking an investigation into an Indian Health Service facility on the Fort Totten Reservation in North Dakota.
Dorgan says the facility's director, Angeline Cloudman, has been accused of creating a hostile work environment and of mismanaging funds. He cited a resolution by the Spirit Lake Nation that banished Cloudman from the reservation and interviews with clinic staff, who were hesitant to discuss the situation for fear of retaliation.
"I believe that the events at the Spirit Lake Reservation may be representative of a systemic problem occurring nationwide within the Indian Health Service system," Dorgan said in a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services.
The Spirit Lake Nation has been seeking an investigation since September 2006 but IHS didn't take action, citing the retirement of the area director for the Aberdeen area, which covers North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa.
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