Practicing your nursing in Florida can make for a great professional career. Not only are the weather, sun, beaches, and water great recreational attractions, but Florida also has a substantial population, fine healthcare system, and good cities and towns to support a thriving nursing practice. You have plenty of employment opportunities all over the state, in world-class hospitals and outstanding nursing care facilities. These were not gifts. You worked for the opportunities, investing a tremendous amount in your nursing education, examination, licensure, and career. Now, don’t lose it all to license discipline over your criminal arrest. Whether your nursing practice is in Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Hialeah, Port St. Lucie, Cape Coral, Tallahassee, Fort Lauderdale, Pembroke Pines, or any other Florida city or town, the LLF National Law Firm’s premier Professional License Defense Team is available to defend you against Florida Board of Nursing disciplinary charges over your criminal issues. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now to preserve and protect your Florida nursing practice and employment.
Florida Nurse Criminal Arrests
Florida has moderate crime rates, especially for a populous state with a great deal of tourism. Florida crime rates have also consistently fallen and fallen substantially over the past couple of decades. Florida ranks right in the middle nationally on violent crime and only a little higher on property crime, for the U.S. as a whole. Yet Florida residents still commit nearly 40,000 criminal offenses each year. And Florida nurses have no immunity from prosecution for common offenses. The Florida Board of Nursing disciplines hundreds of nurses every year, including many for criminal convictions, as the Board of Nursing’s disciplinary actions online show. The Journal of Nursing Regulation reports criminal offenses as causes for about ten percent of nursing board disciplinary actions nationally. Thousands of nurses annually endure discipline related to crimes they commit. Drug possession, drunk driving, retail fraud or shoplifting, and other theft crimes are the usual ones resulting in nurse discipline. But also beware disciplinary allegations involving criminal patient abuse, domestic violence, criminal fraud, and insurance fraud. Retain our skilled and experienced attorneys if you face Florida Board of Nursing disciplinary charges over criminal issues.
Florida Nursing Board Licensure Authority
The Florida Board of Nursing has the state legislature’s full authority to license and discipline nurses who intend to practice in the state. Florida’s Nurse Practice Act creates the Florida Board of Nursing to protect patients and the public through licensing and enforcement. The Nurse Practice Act expressly authorizes the Board of Nursing to license nurses who meet the Board’s education and examination requirements. The Act also authorizes the Board of Nursing to renew licenses and to re-examine the qualifications and fitness of nurses on license renewal. The Act prohibits anyone who does not hold a valid and current license from practicing nursing or using the title or other abbreviations indicating nurse status, on penalty of a first-degree misdemeanor. Florida punishes first-degree misdemeanors by up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine. Another section of the Nurse Practice Act makes it a third-degree felony to practice on a suspended license. You need to retain your license against Florida Board of Nursing disciplinary charges relating to your arrest issues to continue your Florida nursing practice. Get our help defending your disciplinary charges.
Florida Nurse Licensure Requirements
The Florida Nurse Practice Act states general requirements for nurses seeking a license or license renewal, or to retain a license already gained. Those requirements include not only nursing education and examination but also a showing of good physical and mental health, and authorization for a criminal history background check. The Act also requires you to complete the Florida Board of Nursing application or renewal forms, which may require your further disclosure of any conviction or recent arrest not yet resolved by dismissal. The Florida Board of Nursing may also deny you a license or renewal, or suspend or revoke your license, on any of the dozens of disciplinary grounds the Nurse Practice Act lists. You must continue to meet all licensing requirements while avoiding disciplinary violations, or you may lose your license to the Florida Board of Nursing due to disciplinary charges. Let us help you defend against any such charges.
Florida Nurse License Discipline for Crimes
The Florida Nurse Practice Act authorizes the Board of Nursing to discipline your license for criminal conviction for a wide range of crimes. Those crimes include:
- a crime that “directly relates to the practice of nursing or to the ability to practice nursing”;
- any crime that constitutes a forcible felony under Florida statute;
- a theft, robbery, or related crime under the Florida chapter;
- a fraudulent practices crime under the Florida chapter;
- a lewdness or indecent exposure crime under Florida statute;
- an assault, battery, or culpable negligence crime under Florida law;
- a child abuse crime under the Florida chapter;
- a violation of Florida law for failing to protect from child abuse, neglect, exploitation, or abandonment;
- a felony offense under Florida or federal criminal law if committed by a multistate license holder;
- domestic violence under Florida law.
Beware any criminal arrest that may lead to any conviction, like the ones listed above. Respect the Florida Board of Nursing’s statutory authority to discipline related to your criminal issues. Let us help you defend and defeat your disciplinary charges.
Examples of Florida Nurse Discipline Crimes
You’ve just seen the long list of crimes for which the Florida Board of Nursing may discipline your license. Our attorneys can appear on your behalf before the Board of Nursing to defend disciplinary charges related to any criminal offense, no matter how serious or minor, including the specific ones listed above. Below are some examples, organized by category, of the crimes that may subject you to discipline under the Florida Nurse Practice Act, along with a brief explanation of why these crimes are a special concern to the Board of Nursing.
Florida Nurse Discipline for Practice-Related Crimes
The first category of discipline-worthy crimes the Florida Nurse Practice Act lists involves crimes “directly relate[d] to the practice of nursing or to the ability to practice nursing.” These crimes would ordinarily occur in the nursing workplace. The Board of Nursing would be especially concerned about practice-related crimes because of their direct risk to patients, the nursing facility’s supplies, equipment, and interests, and others in the nursing facility, when the Board has the duty to protect patients and others against unfit and impaired nurses. Practice-related crimes would include patient abuse, sexual assault on a patient or co-worker, healthcare program fraud involving falsifying records for services not performed, and healthcare insurance fraud involving unnecessary services, duplicative services, or billing for services not performed. Practice-related crimes could also include drug diversion or other drug possession, distribution, or manufacturing crimes.
Florida Nurse Discipline for Violent Crimes
A second category of crimes for which the Florida Nurse Practice Act authorizes the Board of Nursing to discipline involves crimes of violence. The Act specifically refers to forcible felonies, assault, battery, child abuse, and domestic violence. These crimes need not have occurred in the nursing workplace. The Board of Nursing would be especially concerned about violent crimes because they demonstrate a propensity toward violence, behavioral discontrol, and disregard for the sanctity, safety, and well-being of others, placing patients and others in the nursing facility at risk of similar violence.
Florida Nurse Discipline for Dishonesty Crimes
Another category of crimes for which the Florida Nurse Practice Act authorizes the Board of Nursing to discipline involves crimes of dishonesty. The Act specifically refers to theft, robbery (which is also a violent crime), “or related crime.” Related theft crimes could arguably include as little as retail fraud or shoplifting, or the more serious crimes of identity theft and burglary involving forcible entry into a building with the intent to steal. Theft crimes are a special Board of Nursing concern because of their threat to patients personal property and assets through identity theft, and to facility supplies, equipment, and other property and financial interests.
Florida Nurse Discipline for Crimes of Moral Corruption
Another category of crimes for which the Florida Nurse Practice Act authorizes the Board of Nursing to discipline involves crimes involving corrupt morals. The Act specifically refers to “lewdness or indecent exposure crime” and to the exploitation of a minor. Morals crimes are a special Board of Nursing concern because of their threat to patient welfare and the welfare of others in the nursing facility if the nurse were to repeat the misconduct in the facility. Crimes of bad moral character also cast the nursing profession in a poor public light, reducing public confidence in and reliance on the profession.
Defending Florida Nurse Discipline for Crimes
When facing disciplinary charges related to your criminal issues, keep in mind that Florida Board of Nursing disciplinary charges are only allegations, not a finding that you committed the crime and deserve discipline. Even if you did commit the crime and have already suffered conviction for it, or will soon do so, the Florida Nurse Practice Act makes the commission of certain crimes grounds for discipline. It does not mandate that discipline must follow. Board officials, in other words, have discretion to impose discipline or not to impose discipline. We may thus be able to show the Board of Nursing that you did not commit the alleged crime, you have not suffered conviction for it, or the courts overturned or expunged your conviction, or you received an executive pardon. We may alternatively be able to show that, despite your conviction, you present no practice risk. Your criminal act may have been in an extraordinary and excusable fit of passion or due to a one-time momentary severe delusion, medication reaction, or similar event.
Differences Among Arrest, Charge, and Conviction
If you have only suffered arrest, or arrest and criminal charge, but not criminal conviction, then we may also be able to show the Florida Board of Nursing that you do not qualify for discipline. Police arrest on probable cause, not admissible evidence proving guilt. Prosecutors likewise charge on reasonable belief in available evidence, not on actual proof of the charge. The prosecutor may have refused to charge after arrest, or the court may have dismissed the charge for lack of evidence or on the prosecutor’s own motion in abandonment of the charge. Let us show the board the differences among arrest, charge, and conviction.
Differences Among Specific Crime Charges
We may also be able to show the Florida Board of Nursing that your specific crime, although fitting one of the specific discipline categories, was not of a sufficiently severe or concerning nature as to warrant discipline. Your crime may not have caused or threatened any bodily injury. Your crime may not have involved any bad, evil, or destructive intent. And your crime may not have involved any particular dishonesty. You may also have promptly admitted to your crime and corrected the circumstances. You may also have an exemplary work, criminal, and disciplinary record. Let us prove your specific circumstances in defense of disciplinary charges.
Florida Nurse Duty to Report Criminal Issues
The Florida Nurse Practices Act requires you to authorize a criminal history check and complete the Florida Board of Nursing application and renewal forms, disclosing criminal convictions. To fulfill these and other duties, you may have to report your criminal conviction or even your criminal arrest if you still have pending charges. Failure to disclose when under a duty to do so may be a disciplinary offense. Let us advise you as to your duty to disclose and help you make accurate and complete disclosures.
Florida Nurse Licensing Procedures
The Florida Board of Nursing must provide you with constitutional due process in your license proceeding. The Florida Nurse Practice Act acknowledges the Board’s duty to provide you with due process. We can invoke those protective procedures for your best disciplinary outcome, including a hearing or, if you have already lost your hearing, an appeal and court review.
Premier Florida Nursing License Defense
If you face Florida Board of Nursing disciplinary charges over your criminal issues, retain the LLF National Law Firm’s premier Professional License Defense Team for your best disciplinary outcome. We have helped hundreds of nurses and other healthcare professionals in Florida and nationwide resolve license issues. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now for our highly qualified representation.