You know the rewards of a nursing practice in beautiful and prosperous South Dakota. And you worked hard both to earn your South Dakota nursing license and establish your nursing practice. Now is not the time to let your criminal arrest, charge, or conviction ruin your South Dakota nursing practice. Whether you practice in Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Aberdeen, Brookings, Watertown, Mitchell, Yankton, Pierre, Spearfish, Vermillion, Brandon, Box Elder, or any other South Dakota city or town, the LLF National Law Firm’s premier Professional License Defense Team is available to defend your nursing license against disciplinary charges related to your criminal arrest, charge, or conviction. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now to get the skilled and experienced help you need to retain your South Dakota nursing license.
South Dakota Nurse Criminal Arrests
Thousands of South Dakota residents face criminal arrest, charge, and conviction every year. Nearly 7,000 South Dakota residents committed drug offenses in the most recent year for which statistics are available, with thousands more criminal offenses of other types also occurring. South Dakota nurses are not immune to criminal arrest, charge, and conviction. The Journal of Nursing Regulation reports that nationwide, one out of every ten nursing board disciplinary actions involves criminal arrest, charge, or conviction, involving thousands of nurses. While male nurses and licensed practical nurses commit more of those offenses, registered nurses and female nurses also suffer license discipline related to criminal convictions. The South Dakota Board of Nursing disciplines dozens of RNs and LPNs every year, right up to license suspensions and revocations. Nurses face license discipline for drug crimes, theft crimes, and drunk driving most commonly. But nurses can also lose their license over patient abuse, criminal fraud, and other crimes of violence or dishonesty. And failing to report a conviction or similar disqualifying condition is a disciplinary ground in around one out of five disciplinary cases. Let us help you defend and defeat your South Dakota disciplinary charges.
South Dakota Nurse Licensure Authority
If you face criminal arrest, charge, and conviction, you are accountable to the South Dakota Board of Nursing to show that you should retain your nursing license. South Dakota Code Section 36-9-29 establishes the Board of Nursing to license and regulate the practice of nursing in the state. South Dakota Code Section 36-9-2 provides that you must have a Board of Nursing license to practice nursing in the state. You cannot hold yourself out as a nurse qualified to practice in the state without a current license. South Dakota Code Section 36-9-71 declares unlicensed practice of nursing to be a public nuisance that the courts may enjoin. Section 36-9-68 makes unlicensed nursing practice a Class 1 misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine. Don’t expect to practice nursing if you lose your license. Instead, let us help you defend and defeat your license disciplinary charges.
South Dakota Nurse Licensure Requirements
As long as you continue to meet licensure requirements, you should be able to hold onto your South Dakota nursing license. But your criminal arrest, charge, and conviction could show that you no longer maintain the necessary qualifications. The South Dakota legislature provided for the qualifications for nurse licensure by adopting the South Dakota Nurse Practice Act. The Act’s Section 36-9-30 states the educational requirement for RNs, while other sections state education, examination, character, criminal background check, and other requirements. The South Dakota Nurse Practice Act further authorizes the South Dakota Board of Nursing, in Section 36-9-21, to adopt administrative rules regarding nurse licensure qualifications and the denial or discipline of nursing licenses for nurses who do not meet those qualifications. Let us help you if you face disciplinary charges relating to your nursing license, or if you are seeking renewal of your nursing license, requiring you to disclose your criminal arrest, charge, and conviction.
South Dakota Nurse License Discipline for Crimes
The South Dakota Board of Nursing may discipline your license for certain criminal convictions. South Dakota Code Section 36-9-49 lists the grounds on which the Board of Nursing may deny a license, refuse to renew a license, or discipline a license. Section 36-9-49 expressly authorizes the board to revoke, suspend, or take other disciplinary action against your license for conviction of a felony crime. From the South Dakota Nurse Practice Act alone, only felony crime appears as an express criminal conviction ground. Yet Section 36-9-49 lists other disciplinary grounds like drug or alcohol offenses, sexual contact, or unsafe, unprofessional, or dishonorable conduct, that other misdemeanor crimes could implicate. Moreover, South Dakota Board of Nursing Administrative Rule 20:48:03:14.01 requires that you report not only any felony conviction but also any misdemeanor conviction related to the practice of nursing. Another Board of Nursing Administrative Rule 44:79:01:01 defines sanctionable abuse to include a criminal conviction related to mistreatment of an individual or substantial evidence that the nurse physically harmed a patient or misappropriated patient property.
Examples of South Dakota Nurse Discipline Crimes
Taking the above statutes and rules, you may face the South Dakota Board of Nursing discipline for criminal arrest, charge, and conviction relating to any of the following three categories of crime. The following sections show examples of those crimes and discuss how we may be able to defend you on such a disciplinary charge.
South Dakota Nursing License Discipline for Felony Crime
The first ground to discipline you under South Dakota Code Section 36-9-49 would be for a felony crime. Felony crimes are generally crimes punishable by more than one year in jail. Felony crimes include murder, manslaughter, assault with a deadly weapon, robbery, arson, more serious drug crimes, many sex crimes, and theft crimes involving substantial property. If you face criminal arrest, charge, and conviction for a felony crime, we may be able to defend you by showing that your conviction was set aside, overturned on appeal, pardoned, or that you have completed a period of rehabilitation.
South Dakota Nursing License Discipline for Practice-Related Crime
The second ground to discipline you under South Dakota Board of Nursing Rule 20:48:03:14.01 would be for a misdemeanor conviction related to the practice of nursing. Practice-related crimes include drug diversion at the nursing facility, insurance or Medicare fraud in recordkeeping, and theft of hospital equipment or supplies. If you face criminal arrest, charge, and conviction for practice-related crime, we may be able to defend you by showing that your conviction has been set aside, overturned on appeal, or pardoned, your actions harmed or endangered no patient, that you had extenuating circumstances relating to your actions, or that you have completed a period of rehabilitation.
South Dakota Nursing License Discipline for Abusive Crime
The third ground to discipline you under South Dakota Board of Nursing Rule 44:79:01:01 would be for a criminal conviction related to mistreatment of an individual. Abusive crimes include assault, battery, and sexual assault. If you face criminal arrest, charge, and conviction for an abusive crime, we may be able to defend you by showing that your conviction was set aside, overturned, or pardoned, that the crime was not against a patient and did not create a risk to patients, you had extenuating circumstances surrounding the crime, or you have completed a period of rehabilitation.
Differences Among Arrest, Charge, and Conviction
Whether the South Dakota Board of Nursing pursues disciplinary charges against you, and the outcome of those charges, if so, may depend on whether you only suffered arrest, also faced criminal charges, or actually suffered conviction. We can help you defend disciplinary charges no matter how far your criminal issue has progressed, as follows. Retain us the moment you learn of a South Dakota Board of Nursing investigation or disciplinary charge against you.
Potential Effect of South Dakota Criminal Arrest
You are unlikely to face the South Dakota Board of Nursing discipline solely because of an arrest. If your arrest triggers a disciplinary investigation, we may be able to show that police misidentified you, were wrong in suspecting you of criminal misconduct, or did not have sufficient evidence to seek criminal charges against you. We may also be able to show that whatever conduct you engaged in leading to the arrest did not relate to nursing practice or create any patient risk.
Potential Effect of South Dakota Criminal Charge
You are only somewhat more likely to face the South Dakota Board of Nursing discipline based on a criminal charge. If your criminal charge triggers a Board of Nursing disciplinary proceeding, we may be able to show that the prosecutor abandoned the charge, the court dismissed the charge on a constitutional violation, the alleged actions bore no relationship to your nursing, and you present no patient safety risk.
Potential Effect of South Dakota Criminal Conviction
You are most likely to face the South Dakota Board of Nursing discipline for a criminal conviction. We may be able to show that your conviction was not for a felony or a crime related to nursing practice, the conviction was set aside, overturned, or pardoned, you completed a period of rehabilitation, or you present no safety risk to any patient.
Differences Among Specific Crime Charges
The outcome of your South Dakota Board of Nursing disciplinary proceeding may ultimately depend most on the specific crime for which you suffer a conviction. If your crime was related to nursing, we may be able to show you did not endanger patients. If you committed a crime during the course of your nursing practice, we may show that no patient faced any risk of harm or loss. If your crime involved violence, we may be able to show that your actions had nothing to do with nursing and present no patient risks. If your crime involved the use or sale of drugs, we may be able to show that you are not a drug user or abuser and would not divert controlled substances. If your crime involved fraud or deceit, we may be able to show that it bore no relationship to nursing. And if your crime involved theft, we may be able to show that you did not steal patient or facility property and are not a risk to do so.
South Dakota Nurse Duty to Report Criminal Issues
South Dakota Board of Nursing Administrative Rule 20:48:03:14.01 requires that you report your felony conviction or conviction for a misdemeanor related to nursing within sixty days of the conviction’s date. Do not violate the reporting requirement. Your failure to report may be its own ground for discipline, even if the Board of Nursing would not otherwise have disciplined you. Credential fraud, including failing or refusing to disclose a disqualifying criminal conviction, is an express ground for discipline under South Dakota Code Section 36-9-49. Let us help you determine whether you owe a duty to report and, if so, how best to do so.
South Dakota Nurse Licensing Procedures
You have a right to constitutional due process when facing disciplinary charges before the South Dakota Board of Nursing. South Dakota Code Section 36-9-51.1 accordingly expressly assures you of a formal hearing before the Board of Nursing may impose discipline. South Dakota Code Section 36-9-51.2 requires the Board of Nursing to follow the state’s Administrative Procedure Act for contested case hearings. Our attorneys know how to invoke those hearing procedures for your best disciplinary outcome.
Premier South Dakota Nursing License Defense
If you have suffered criminal arrest, charge, or conviction and face related South Dakota Board of Nursing disciplinary charges, retain the LLF National Law Firm’s premier Professional License Defense Team for your best possible nursing license defense. Our attorneys help hundreds of nurses and other professionals in South Dakota and across the nation with license discipline defense. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now for our skilled and experienced representation.