You have a wonderful career going as a nurse licensed to practice in Montana, with the state’s natural beauty and all the rewards of a professional healthcare practice. Your criminal arrest, charge, and conviction, though, could undermine every one of those rewards. Do not let your criminal arrest, charge, and conviction affect your nursing license. If you are a nurse practicing in Billings, Missoula, Great Falls, Bozeman, Helena, or any other Montana city or town, promptly retain the LLF National Law Firm’s premier Professional License Defense Team to defend your nursing license in disciplinary proceedings related to your criminal arrest, charge, or conviction. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now for our highly qualified attorneys’ nursing license defense representation.
Montana Nurse Criminal Arrests
Montana nurses are generally of good professional character. You must obtain a Montana Board of Nursing license. Yet, Montana nurses are not immune to criminal arrest, charge, and conviction. A Journal of Nursing Regulation report reflects that around one out of every ten nursing board disciplinary actions nationwide involve criminal arrest, charge, or conviction. Thousands of nurses nationwide suffer license discipline every year simply because of criminal issues. Male nurses and licensed practical nurses face more criminal issues than female nurses and registered nurses, but none are immune. The most common crimes getting nurses into trouble with state licensing authorities involve drunk driving, drug crimes, and theft crimes, but other crimes can result in discipline as well. Generally, the more serious the crime, such as crimes of patient abuse or other violence, the greater the discipline, including permanent license revocation. But any crime could result in license suspension, especially if a failure to report the crime was involved. Around one out of five disciplinary actions involves a failure to report. Don’t face disciplinary charges alone. Let us help you defend and defeat your charges relating to criminal issues.
Montana Nurse Licensure Authority
Montana Code Section 2-15-1734 establishes the Montana Board of Nursing to regulate the practice of nursing in Montana. Montana Code Section 37-8-401 makes it unlawful to hold yourself out as a nurse qualified to practice in Montana, or to use any designation suggesting that you are a qualified nurse in Montana, unless you hold a Montana Board of Nursing license. Montana Code Section 37-1-411 authorizes the Montana Department of Labor & Industry to file a civil action to enjoin the unlicensed practice of nursing or another healthcare profession, subject to contempt penalties. You must not practice nursing without your Montana Board of Nursing license in good standing. Let us help you protect your nursing license against criminal issues.
Montana Nurse Licensure Requirements
The Montana legislature has enacted special statutes governing the licensure of nurses with criminal convictions. Montana Code Section 37-1-201 et seq. details those licensure requirements as to nurses with criminal convictions. Section 37-1-203 provides that a criminal conviction alone does not disqualify a nursing practice. But the same section provides that the Board of Nursing may deny a license to a nurse having a criminal conviction that “relates to the public health, welfare, and safety as it applies to the occupation for which the license is sought,” unless you can show rehabilitation. Beyond that specific provision regarding criminal convictions, the Montana legislature has provided that the Montana Board of Nursing gets to set the requirements for your nursing license. Montana Code Section 37-8-405 authorizes the Board of Nursing to adopt rules specifying the education, good character, and other requirements for your nursing license. The Montana Board of Nursing did so in detailed administrative rules. You must continue to meet those licensing requirements while practicing and when applying for license renewal. Let us help you prove to the Board of Nursing that you do so.
Montana Nurse License Discipline for Crimes
The Montana Board of Nursing has the authority to discipline your license if you suffer a disqualifying criminal conviction. Montana Code Section 37-1-312 expressly authorizes the Board of Nursing to sanction your nursing license up to suspension or revocation if you violate its rules and standards regarding unprofessional conduct. Montana Code Section 37-1-316 lists the grounds for those license sanctions. The first of those many listed disciplinary grounds is to commit a “crime relating to or committed during the course of the person’s practice or involving violence, use or sale of drugs, fraud, deceit, or theft….” Breaking those grounds down, along with illustrating examples, you may suffer license discipline for:
- a crime relating to nursing, such as patient abuse or neglect, sexual assault of a patient, theft of a patient’s belongings, or diversion of drugs in the course of nursing;
- a crime committed during the course of your nursing practice, such as an assault and battery against a co-worker, theft of or vandalism to hospital equipment, or insurance fraud relating to recorded services;
- a crime involving violence, whether or not in the course of nursing practice, such as a domestic violence crime at home or a felonious assault in another location;
- a crime involving the use or sale of drugs, such as unlawful possession or distribution of a controlled substance at home or another location, or diversion of drugs at the nursing facility;
- a crime of fraud or deceit, such as the deliberate false entry of nursing or other medical services to defraud an insurer, or criminal fraud in a scheme or scam outside of nursing practice; or
- a crime of theft, which could involve stealing patient property, embezzling facility funds, stealing hospital supplies or equipment, or vehicle theft or theft from a home or other location outside of the workplace.
If you face arrest, charge, or conviction for any of the above alleged acts, our attorneys can help you address the related disciplinary proceeding. Do not assume that your arrest, charge, or conviction will surely result in license discipline. Let us help you evaluate, defend, and defeat any disciplinary charges while also properly reporting to the Board of Nursing the status of your criminal proceeding.
Differences Among Arrest, Charge, and Conviction
The Montana Board of Nursing may look at a wide range of factors when determining whether to pursue a formal disciplinary charge against you and, if so, whether to impose any disciplinary sanction. One of those factors is whether your alleged misconduct results in a criminal arrest only, or whether criminal charges and a criminal conviction follow. Arrest, charge, and conviction involve three different stages of the criminal proceeding, each with their own potential effect as follows. Our attorneys can help you determine how to handle your license disciplinary proceeding, depending on the criminal proceeding you face and the criminal case result you suffer.
Potential Effect of Montana Criminal Arrest
Criminal arrests involve law enforcement officials taking you into custody, depriving you of your freedom for at least a time at the scene and potentially for transport to the station for booking. An arrest is not yet a criminal court proceeding. The arresting officers may release you without seeking criminal charges, before or after consulting with the prosecutor about potential charges. Ordinarily, your arrest and release would not alone implicate license disciplinary charges. But your arrest may trigger a license complaint and investigation relating to the underlying circumstances that triggered the arrest. Let us help you respond to any such complaint and investigation, with the goal of heading off disciplinary charges.
Potential Effect of Montana Criminal Charge
A criminal charge following your arrest is a criminal court case filed against you by the local prosecutor. The criminal charge generally means that the prosecutor believes that law enforcement officers have recovered sufficient evidence against you on the criminal charge for the possibility of a conviction. The prosecutor may abandon the charge, or the court may dismiss the charge for lack of evidence or on a constitutional violation. But generally, a charge reflects a greater risk than an arrest or a license disciplinary investigation. If the Montana Board of Nursing learns of the charge and notifies you of a license investigation, retain us immediately to respond to the Board and assist you in responding to the investigation.
Potential Effect of Montana Criminal Conviction
A criminal conviction following your charge means that the criminal court found that the charge was established, whether by your criminal plea or by a judge or jury trial on evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that you committed the crime. Your criminal conviction will likely trigger your duty to report the conviction to the Montana Board of Nursing, either promptly on conviction or when applying for a license renewal. Retain us immediately to help you comply with your reporting requirement and to help you advocate with the Board of Nursing that your conviction was not disqualifying for licensure.
Differences Among Specific Crime Charges
The greatest factor affecting your Montana Board of Nursing licensure may be the nature of your criminal charge and conviction. Some crimes are more serious than other crimes in the degree to which they exhibit that you may be a risk to patients or the public in your nursing duties. Here are some potential defenses for each of the above categories under Montana Code Section 37-1-316 for license sanctions for criminal convictions:
- a crime relating to nursing may require us to show that your crime did not endanger patients or co-workers and that you are rehabilitated;
- a crime committed during the course of your nursing practice may require us to show that no patient faced any risk of harm or loss;
- a crime involving violence may require us to show that your actions had nothing to do with nursing and present no patient risks;
- a crime involving the use or sale of drugs may require us to show that you are not a drug user or abuser and would not divert facility drugs;
- a crime of fraud or deceit may require us to show that it bore no relationship to nursing and did not indicate your dishonesty or unfitness for nursing practice; or
- a crime of theft may require us to show that you did not steal patient or facility property and are not a risk to do so.
Montana Nurse Duty to Report Criminal Issues
You will have a duty to report your criminal conviction to the Montana Board of Nursing to evaluate whether it should discipline your license. Montana Code Section 37-1-105 requires license applicants and renewal applicants to report any legal or disciplinary proceeding against the applicant. The prosecutor or another court official may notify the Board of Nursing directly, on entry of the order of conviction. Montana Code Section 37-8-434 also authorizes the Board of Nursing to complete a criminal background check on applicants for license or license renewal, and the renewal application form will likely require you to answer whether you have had any recent convictions. Don’t expect to conceal your criminal conviction. Deliberately doing so may constitute credential fraud and another ground for license discipline. Let us help you determine your reporting duty and carry out that duty in the manner most likely to maintain your license in good standing.
Montana Nurse Licensing Procedures
Nurses facing license discipline before the Montana Board of Nursing have a right to constitutional due process to defend their nursing license. Montana Code Section 37-1-136 carries that right into effect by guaranteeing licensees a contested case hearing under the state’s administrative procedures. Our attorneys can invoke your hearing rights, take your administrative appeal if you have already lost your hearing, and seek civil court review where appropriate.
Premier Montana Nursing License Defense
If you are a Montana nurse who has suffered criminal arrest, charge, or conviction, retain the LLF National Law Firm’s premier Professional License Defense Team for your best possible nursing license disciplinary outcome. We help hundreds of nurses and other professionals in Montana and nationwide with license discipline issues. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now for our premier defense attorney representation.