A nurse's personal life may look completely different from their professional one. As much as nurses may try to keep them separate, they sometimes mix together. Such is the case for nurses in Kansas who receive protection from abuse (PFA) orders or get charged with domestic violence.
Allegations like these can affect the rest of your nursing career—or end it entirely. Team up with lawyers who know the ins and outs of nursing license law in Kansas to make sure you can continue working with dignity. Schedule a consultation with the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team by calling 888.535.3686 or filling out this contact form.
How the Kansas Board of Nursing Handles PFA Orders and Domestic Violence Charges
The courts will not automatically inform the Kansas State Board of Nursing about any domestic violence cases or PFA orders against you. Still, they may discover any past convictions or pending charges upon running a criminal history background check to approve or renew your nursing license. To get ahead of that, they require that you self-report criminal convictions. You must include any convictions that took place not only in Kansas, but in other states as well.
Additionally, other people have the option of filing complaints against you, which could include information about domestic violence and/or PFA orders. Since the Kansas State Board of Nursing receives such complaints, they would know about the charges then.
Either way, the board will demand that you explain every conviction and how you were sentenced or what you've done to improve. If they're not satisfied with the way you present yourself, they're likely to launch an investigation to assess the situation or you as a nurse. This process usually involves interviewing witnesses and victims in addition to gathering documents, recordings, video footage, and other types of evidence.
From there, the board reviews the investigation results and arranges a formal disciplinary hearing in which you have another chance to defend yourself. to decide whether you're safe and dependable enough to have a nursing license.
Should the board decide not to dismiss the complaint against you altogether, they will impose sanctions they deem appropriate. You could expect any of the following:
Remedial Education
The board may require that you sign an agreement in which you promise to complete remedial education courses that prove you're ready to continue working as a nurse. The agreement may come with additional conditions and stipulations as the board sees fit.
Regarded as an informal resolution to disciplinary matters, this sanction may not affect your long-term career like more severe sanctions would. However, it would still be an inconvenience that might distract or hold you back, and it could still impact a future employer's decision to hire you.
Reprimand
For first-time or less serious offenses, the board could simply use a formal reprimand to acknowledge your crime and communicate their expectations for better behavior in the future. They often choose to make the reprimand available to the public, but they could also give it to you privately, which would make background checks go more smoothly for you.
Fees/Fines
Money can be a powerful motivator, so the board may demand that you pay hundreds to thousands of dollars in fees and fines. They could cover investigation costs and other expenses related to the disciplinary action process, and/or they could simply serve to dissuade you from repeating or escalating your offenses.
Nurses often struggle as much as anyone else to make ends meet, and many want to pursue continuing education courses. If you must spend months or years using your income to pay off fees and fines, you could find yourself with an empty wallet and/or stunted career.
License Denial or Revocation
If domestic violence convictions or PFA orders came up in the application process to obtain a nursing license for the first time or renew an existing one, the Kansas State Board of Nursing might deny it. If you're practicing with a fully valid license when the charges came to the board's attention, they could revoke your license. Either way, you would be immediately unable to work as a nurse anywhere in the state of Kansas.
The good news is that you can appeal this decision or reapply after three years. However, you may have to pay additional fees, agree to certain conditions, or demonstrate to the board that you have completed remedial education or rehabilitative programs relevant to domestic abuse.
Regardless, this sanction is sure to cause a massive interruption in your career that would impact how it eventually develops (or doesn't). The extra fees and stipulations could also be cumbersome to reasonably bear.
License Suspension
Perhaps the Kansas State Board of Nursing will allow you to keep your license. However, you wouldn't be allowed to practice for a predetermined timeframe or until you fulfill a set of requirements designed to show the board that you're ready to practice again. This is known as a suspension, and it could last anywhere from weeks to years.
As with a license denial or revocation, suspension can have long-lasting repercussions because of the time you'd have to spend out of practice. With a gap in your experience and less opportunity to hone your skills, jobs and high pay would be harder to come by.
License Restriction
With restrictions, you're allowed to maintain your nursing license, but there's less that you have the authority to do. The board may require you to avoid specific places, fields, tasks, shifts, or patient demographics.
Being able to work in come capacity is better than ending up barred entirely, but license restrictions can greatly limit your opportunity for growth, and you may have difficulty arranging the rest of your life to accommodate them. Plus, your work could become more monotonous or cause resentment among other nurses who need help with things you're not allowed to do, increasing dissatisfaction for everyone.
Why Does the Kansas State Board of Nursing Care About These Charges?
You might wonder why your criminal record should affect your career at all, even if the charges involve PFA orders and domestic violence.
Truthfully, the Kansas State Board of Nursing has several reasons to question your suitability for nurses in such cases. After all, nursing requires a lot of interaction and control over other people's care, so your personal circumstances or manner of treating others can be telling. Here are the potential problems that might worry the board most:
Poor Emotional or Mental Health
Domestic violence is commonly intertwined with emotional or mental struggles or even clinical disorders. Such problems can affect a nurse's concentration, motivation, manner of treating patients and colleagues. They also raise the likelihood that a nurse abuses drugs or alcohol. Plus, the nurse's mental or emotional state might get worse when combined with the stress of facing legal charges or board investigations. The board may worry that a nurse in this situation is volatile or unstable enough to harm others through carelessness or recklessness.
Ethical or Professional Misconduct
All nurses are expected to adhere to the code of professionalism and ethics established by the Kansas State Board of Nursing. Disrespect, harassment, stalking, and violence are a few examples of behavior that breach that code, and they often lead to serious legal issues. The board believes that a nurse who is under investigation for a PFA order or domestic violence charges is more likely to be unprofessional or unethical.
Extended Time Away
Criminal convictions often come with jail time or community service requirements, especially in cases of domestic violence. If a nurse has to spend a significant amount of time away from work to fulfill their legal obligations, the board may decide that they're too much trouble to keep licensed.
Complications from Probation or PFA Order Violations
In Kansas, a PFA order usually comes with stipulations for the person against whom it is filed. Probation typically has certain requirements, too. A nurse could have difficulty balancing their work and compliance with a PFA order and/or probation sentence. Nevertheless, a violation could result in new criminal charges, further complicating the nurse's situation. Again, the board may find sanctions easier than dealing with that.
Options for Protecting Your Nursing License in Kansas
Whether the charges are pending or you've already been convicted, there are ways to convince the Kansas State Board of Nursing that you're a trustworthy nurse despite the PFA order or domestic violence charges. Consider these examples:
Complete a Domestic Violence Course
Kansas has its own domestic violence course designed to address the root problems and help offenders improve their behavior. A judge might demand that you take the course, but you could also take it on your own. Either way, showing that you've completed it could reassure the board that you're safe to employ as a nurse.
Offer Alternative Solutions
One of the advantages of a formal disciplinary hearing is that it gives you a chance to negotiate your sanctions, if they cannot be avoided altogether. Prepare yourself with suggestions for reducing or even removing the board's penalties by proposing an alternative solution. Let the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team guide you.
File an Appeal
If all else fails—at least for the moment—consider filing an appeal to the Kansas State Board of Nursing. After reviewing the case, the board might make a new adjudication that would involve removing the sanctions against your license. However, there's never a guarantee of that happening, so it's best to have a dedicated law firm on your side from the start.
Why Hire the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team?
Although PFA orders and domestic violence charges are addressed in criminal and civil courts, you mustn't forget the potential impact on your nursing license. An allegation alone could trigger the Kansas State Board of Nursing to investigate you and impose sanctions.
In addition to hurting your career and affecting your work performance, sanctions can augment whatever mental or emotional issues might have compelled you to commit domestic violence in the first place. You need a Professional License Defense Team in your corner.
That's why it's crucial for you to contact the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team has soon as you learn of the complaints or charges against you. No matter what happens to your case in the criminal or civil court, you need the Lento Law Firm's nationally renowned prowess in professional license defense. Here's what they offer:
Willingness to Look Deeper
The Lento Law Firm understands that false accusations happen. Even if there are legitimate reasons for the case against you, the charges are not the sum of your life. In both these scenarios, the Lento Law Firm is committed to look beyond the surface of your situation so that they can present the whole truth and all the relevant context to the courts.
Helpful Legal Advice
PFA orders aren't always straightforward, and board investigations can be complex and intimidating. To ensure that the PFA order doesn't interfere with your work or land you with a new charge for violating it, the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team will offer advice for interpreting and complying with everything asked of you. This will keep you from getting into additional trouble with the board, and it ensures that the board sees the best of you.
Personalized Defense
Although the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team has mastered tried-and-true defense strategies, they know how to tailor them to your unique situation. It includes comprehending you fully as a person so that they can ensure the board will do the same. The more personalized your defense, the more you're humanized to the board, and the more likely they are to show leniency.
You Can Still Be a Nurse in Kansas
If you are suspected or guilty of committing domestic violence or anything else to justify a protection from abuse order against you, don't lose hope. You can still rise above it and create a great life for yourself and the people you help as a nurse in Kansas. Contact the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team at 888.535.3686 or fill out this contact form to learn more about their services.
