Any accusation that calls into question a nurse’s ethics can be a career-ruiner. Drug diversion is a particularly serious accusation that fits squarely into this career-threatening category. If you have been accused of diverting drugs or engaging in other prohibited conduct, you should immediately seek representation you can trust.
The North Carolina Board of Nursing (NCBON) is not an extension of you. It will look out for its own interests, not yours. The LLF National Law Firm Professional License Defense Team, on the other hand, will be 100% committed to serving your interests.
With ample experience resolving nurse licensing issues nationwide (including many cases throughout North Carolina), we are the logical advocates for you. Call the LLF National Law Firm Professional License Defense Team today at 888-535-3686 or contact us online to discuss any allegations you face and how we may counteract them.
Drug Diversion Falls Within a Class of Career-Threatening Offenses for Greensboro Area Nurses
A nurse who works at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center may have a vastly different professional experience than one who works for a comparatively small employer in Archdale or Reidsville.
Every nurse in North Carolina is unified, though, by the Nursing Practice Act, which establishes professional expectations. These nursing-specific statutes speak somewhat generally about grounds for disciplining nurses, authorizing the Board to sanction a nurse who:
- “Engages in conduct that endangers the public health.”
- “Is unfit or incompetent to practice nursing by reason of deliberate or negligent acts or omissions regardless of whether actual injury to the patient is established.”
- “Is unable to practice nursing with reasonable skill and safety to patients by reason of illness, excessive use of alcohol, drugs, chemicals, or any other type of material, or by reason of any physical or mental abnormality.”
- “Has been convicted of or pleaded guilty or nolo contendere to any crime which indicates that the nurse is unfit or incompetent to practice nursing.”
Diverting a controlled substance in an unauthorized manner might meet each of these thresholds for discipline. The latter two criteria might suggest that a nurse is facing potential criminal penalties and/or is suffering from a substance use disorder—two complicating factors that our Professional License Defense Team is familiar with.
Related Offenses That Might Jeopardize Your License in North Carolina
You might generally think of drug diversion as the unauthorized repurposing of a controlled substance, whether for one’s own use or to distribute to others (whether through sale or for free). Failure to comply with strict protocols for handling controlled substances can be a violation of professional regulations, and some similar (potentially related) offenses that violate nursing guidelines are:
- Medication theft
- Prescription fraud
- Improper documentation practices
- Nursing while impaired
- Conviction of a felony offense
- Failure to report one’s substance misuse
Both the North Carolina Controlled Substances Act and the United States Controlled Substances Act prohibit behaviors that might be referred to as “drug diversion.” This intersection of North Carolina nursing rules and the criminal code can make for complex circumstances when a nurse is accused of mishandling one or more controlled substances.
What Happens When a Nurse In Greensboro, Winston-Salem, or Another NC Community Is Accused of Drug Diversion?
In the same statute that details the possible grounds for disciplining a nurse in the Greensboro area, lawmakers explain how the process that could lead to such discipline is triggered. All “occupational licensing agencies” must follow the state’s administrative procedures, which are the source for details of hearing procedures.
Nurses accused of drug misconduct in Greensboro, High Point, Burlington, Winston-Salem, Kernersville, and other communities throughout North Carolina should prepare for the following steps and stages in the disciplinary process:
- The Board will initiate a formal investigation of “any practice that might violate any provision of this Article or any rule or regulation promulgated by the Board”
- The nurse accused of misconduct may have an opportunity to admit misconduct and negotiate a disciplinary agreement with representatives of the Board
- If the nurse and Board representatives cannot agree to a disciplinary agreement, then the Board “may designate…three or more of its members to conduct hearings as a hearing committee to receive evidence,” with the “majority” of the hearing committee being licensed nurses
- The hearing committee may hear evidence and witness testimony in a deposition-style forum, though testimony may only be presented “at the discretion of the Board”
- Following the hearing, the committee will present a report of its findings of fact and conclusions to the Board
- Before the Board makes its final decision, each party (including the accused nurse) has an opportunity to respond to the hearing committee’s findings
If a nurse disagrees with a Board decision, they may exercise their right to judicial review. The state’s administrative procedures state that:
“Any party or person aggrieved by the final decision in a contested case, and who has exhausted all administrative remedies made available to the party or person aggrieved by statute or agency rule, is entitled to judicial review of the decision.”
Our Professional License Defense Team will lead the way through every stage of the disciplinary process should one lie ahead of you. Our North Carolina professional license defenses are dynamic, and we adapt to whatever expected or unexpected developments arise in a nurse’s case.
What Sanctions Can a Nurse Suffer for These Kinds of Offenses?
First, know that nurses struggling with substance use disorders in North Carolina may be able to get help without facing discipline. One of the state’s Alternative Programs for Nurses in Recovery (APs) may be the best option for you, while a Disciplinary Program for Nurses in Recovery (DP) may be worth considering.
Nurses accused of drug diversion or other serious misconduct could realistically face license suspension, revocation, probation, a hefty fine, and other severe discipline. We want to resolve this problem with minimal harm inflicted upon your career, reputation, and well-being.
Call the LLF National Law Firm Professional License Defense Team today at 888-535-3686 or contact us online to discuss how we may help you in light of a career-threatening allegation.