Your nursing license is the key to your career and your livelihood. That is why if you are a nurse working in the Greater Knoxville, Tennessee area and find yourself accused of domestic violence – whether in a divorce or custody case, or if criminal charges are brought against you – you need to take prompt and effective steps to defend yourself. And when accusations result in a protective order being issued against you, you need to understand how that order may have an effect on your nursing license.
The LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team is here to help you protect your license if you have been accused of domestic violence and a protective order has been issued against you. It is very possible that the allegations made against you could eventually lead to an investigation by the Tennessee Department of Health’s Board of Nursing. When that happens, your nursing license is at risk. The best way to defend yourself against that risk is by working with one of our experienced attorneys. To learn more about how the LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team can fight to protect your nursing license, call us at 888.535.3686 or submit our online contact form so we can schedule a confidential consultation to discuss your concerns.
Tennessee’s Domestic Abuse Laws
No matter where you are working as a nurse in the Knoxville area – whether in Knoxville itself, or a nearby town such as Morristown, Oak Ridge, Sevierville, or Jefferson City – if you are accused of any type of domestic violence, you need to take it seriously. You need to do so not only for obvious personal reasons, but also because those kinds of allegations can lead to discipline from the Tennessee Board of Nursing even if they do not result in you being convicted.
Tennessee law sets forth the grounds for charging a defendant with the crime of Domestic Assault when the victim is a “domestic abuse victim” – a term that is defined in the law. A domestic abuse victim can be any of the following, whether the victim is an adult or a minor:
- A current or former spouse
- Anyone who lives or has lived with the accused
- Someone who is dating or has dated the accused
- Someone who has or had a sexual relationship with the accused
- Any person “related by blood or adoption” to the accused
- Anyone who is or was “related by marriage” to the accused
The definition of a domestic abuse victim can also include any child of any person who meets any of the above definitions.
The domestic assault law applies the same broad standards as Tennessee’s assault law when it comes to defining what types of conduct can result in a charge. Anyone who “intentionally” or “knowingly”:
- Causes someone “to reasonably fear imminent bodily injury” or
- Causes “physical contact” that a “reasonable person would regard” as “extremely offensive or provocative”
can face a domestic assault charge if the alleged victim meets the definition of a domestic abuse victim. In addition, anyone who “intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes bodily injury” to someone else can also be charged with domestic abuse if the alleged victim is a “domestic abuse victim.”
The Domestic Abuse statute is a broad one. It is so broad that a person can be charged with domestic assault even if they are no longer in any kind of a relationship with the person who claims they were assaulted. A former roommate can bring a domestic assault allegation, even if the only relationship between the roommate and their alleged attacker is that they once shared a house or an apartment.
One common result of a domestic abuse allegation is a request by the person making the allegations for a protective order against the person they say has committed the abuse. It is important to understand that a protective order is a civil matter – it is not a determination of guilt by a criminal court.
Tennessee Protective Orders
A protective order can be issued based on a petition filed with a civil court by anybody who claims that they have been a victim of domestic abuse or that someone has threatened them with domestic abuse. But they can also issue for other reasons.
In fact, the definition of what qualifies as “abuse” for purposes of a protective order is broader than what they are for the crime of domestic abuse. The type of conduct that can support a request for a protective order includes the same types of physical abuse that can result in a domestic assault criminal charge. But “abuse” can also include:
- Putting someone “in fear of, or in, physical harm or physical restraint”
- Maliciously damaging someone else’s personal property
- Intentionally inflicting “financial abuse,” which can include restricting the alleged victim’s access to “money, assets, credit, or financial information” as well as unfairly using the victim’s resources
If you are a nurse and a protective order has been issued against you, it is important that you understand that this is not an order that means you have been found to have committed a crime. As noted above, the protective order is a civil matter, not a criminal one – though if you have been accused of the crime of Domestic Abuse, the criminal court may issue a protective order even if you have not yet been convicted. Because the protective order is a civil matter, the standards for issuing it are significantly lower than what the standards are for convicting a defendant of the crime of Domestic Abuse.
Many protective orders will even be issued on what is called an “ex parte” basis. This means that the court or a judicial commissioner may issue the protective order without holding a hearing where you can argue against it. All that the petition asking for the order needs to show is that there is “good cause” for the protective order to issue immediately. This is a very low standard to meet, and it can be easy for someone to make claims that meet this standard.
At some point, however, there will be a hearing where you will be able to argue against the requested protective order. The standard at that hearing is higher: the court will issue the protective order if it finds “by a preponderance of the evidence” that the alleged abuse (or threatened abuse) has happened.
That standard is the one that is used in civil cases. It is often explained as a “more likely than not” standard. In other words, for the court to issue the order, the court must believe that it is more likely than not that the person accused of the abuse committed it. In criminal cases, of course, the standard to convict is much higher: the familiar “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard.
What Is the Effect of a Protective Order on Your Tennessee Nursing License
Because a protective order is not a determination that the person it targets has committed a crime, it is not something that can directly affect your Tennessee nursing license the way a criminal conviction could. In Tennessee, you are required to report criminal convictions when you apply for or renew your nursing license. But there is no similar requirement that you report protective orders that have been issued against you.
That said, it is still possible that you may find yourself under investigation for alleged misconduct if a protective order has been issued against you. That is because the kind of conduct that can lead to a protective order can also be the same kind of conduct that may cause the Board to question the nurse’s professional integrity.
Nursing boards across the country, including in Tennessee, are focused on protecting the public against unsafe health care practices. They are likely to be concerned if they learn that a nurse has been accused of committing any kind of violent or threatening conduct, or of the type of harassment that can result in a protective order being issued – even if the alleged conduct did not take place in a health care setting. Their concerns will be that a nurse who may be capable of committing domestic violence may also be capable of committing violence towards patients, patient family members, or workplace colleagues.
And while Tennessee does not mandate reporting of allegations of domestic abuse or of protective orders issued based on allegations of domestic abuse, it does require nurses to disclose criminal convictions. A nurse who has been convicted of Domestic Abuse (or of any felony or misdemeanor conviction) will need to disclose that to the Board when they renew their nursing license.
Disclosing Protective Orders to the Board of Nursing
To be clear: if you are working as a nurse in Knoxville or a nearby town such as Farragut, Lenoir City, Alcoa, or Clinton, you do not need to inform the Board of Nursing if a protective order is issued against you.
That is because a protective order is not a determination that you have committed a crime. It issues primarily to protect the safety and security of the person who is requesting the order, which is one reason why, in many cases, an “ex parte” order will issue with no hearing.
Even when the hearing eventually happens, it is not unusual for the person targeted by the protective order to decide not to oppose it. But even if they do oppose it, and even if the hearing results in the protective order issuing in a more permanent form, it is still not a finding that the person the order targets has committed a crime.
In short, without a criminal conviction, there is no requirement that a nurse disclose to the Board of Nursing that a protective order has been issued against them. But, as noted below, that does not mean that the circumstances that resulted in the protective order issued against you will not be reported to the Board of Nursing. And in some cases, you may want to report the allegations yourself.
Disclosing Domestic Violence Arrests to the Board of Nursing
An arrest is not a conviction. That is why you do not need to tell the Board of Nursing if you are charged with Domestic Assault. Nor do you need to inform the Board if you have been charged with any other crime. In Tennessee, it is criminal convictions that nurses must disclose to the Board.
Disclosing Criminal Convictions to the Board of Nursing
The Tennessee Board of Nursing requires nurses to disclose both felony and misdemeanor convictions when they renew their licenses. (Note that whether you need to disclose a conviction when you first apply may depend on how long ago the conviction took place.)
You can expect to have to provide details about the conviction and an explanation that the Board will use to determine what steps, if any, to take in response. The LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team can help you understand what your reporting obligations are when you have been convicted of a crime. We can also make sure that your explanation to the Board is one that will help you keep your license despite your conviction.
Self-Reporting Protective Orders to the Board of Nursing
Here is one thing to keep in mind: anybody can file a complaint with the Tennessee Board of Nursing against any licensed nurse. That means if someone accuses you of domestic abuse and seeks a protective order against you, they can also file a complaint with the Board. Or their family members can do so. Or a friend of theirs. Or any member of the public who may learn of the allegations against you.
This can happen in cases where couples are going through a particularly bitter breakup or where one party holds a grudge against another. The complaint may result in the Board opening an investigation that can take months to complete, and can leave you wondering if you will face sanctions from the Board in addition to the consequences of the protective order.
Sometimes it may make sense to self-report the allegations made against you to the Board. This may also result in an investigation, but the fact that you raised the matter with the Board may help speed things along and may make a difference in the outcome.
That said, deciding whether to self-disclose these kinds of allegations is a very difficult decision to make. It is a decision that is likely to benefit from the advice of an attorney who has experience with these kinds of cases – someone from the LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team. We work with nurses all over the country on a vast array of different kinds of misconduct allegations, and we will bring that experience to the table when advising you on what the best approach is in your case, based on your facts.
Potential Consequences of the Board of Nursing Discipline
If a complaint is filed against you with the Board of Nursing in Tennessee, the matter will typically trigger an investigation, assuming the complaint describes a type of misconduct that the Board believes it has jurisdiction over. The investigation can take weeks or months before it is complete. Once it has finished, the Board will then decide whether to file a formal complaint against you and schedule a hearing.
During this entire period, working with one of the experienced attorneys from the LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team can significantly ease the stress and burden of having a disciplinary proceeding hanging over your head. We can protect your rights from day one and can provide you with the strongest defense possible based on the facts of your case.
We can also work to negotiate a resolution – in fact, most nursing disciplinary cases that are not dismissed will result in a negotiated outcome. But if your case does go to a hearing, we will be there by your side to defend you.
There are a number of different ways that the Board of Nursing can sanction a nurse for misconduct. These include:
- Reprimand. The nurse may have a formal reprimand placed in the public file that summarizes the allegations made against them and the Board’s issuance of a reprimand in response.
- Remedial Requirements. The nurse may be required to take certain courses or complete substance abuse treatment as a condition of being allowed to continue to practice nursing.
- Probation. The nurse will be placed under certain restrictions for a period of time – these typically require heightened supervision of the nurse’s work.
- Suspension. The nurse may be prohibited from practicing nursing for a designated period of time, which may include completing one or more remedial requirements before their license is reinstated.
- Revocation. This is the permanent loss of the nursing license. In Tennessee, nurses who have been found to have committed misconduct may have their licenses revoked, with the revocation put on hold and the license suspended until the nurse meets certain requirements.
The LLF National Law Firm Can Help You Defend Your Nursing License
No matter where in the greater Knoxville area you are practicing nursing – be it Knoxville itself, or nearby Sevierville, Lenoir City, Oak Ridge, Morristown, or elsewhere – you need to make sure you are protecting your nursing license if you have been accused of domestic abuse, whether or not you are also facing criminal charges. The LLF National Law Firm can help you do that.
If you are facing criminal charges, we will work with your criminal law attorney to help make sure your criminal defense is coordinated with your nursing license defense. This can keep you from a situation where actions taken in one case can hurt you in another.
Your nursing license is the key to your livelihood. It may be your most valuable personal asset. Let the LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team use our experience helping nurses all across the country to help you protect that valuable personal asset. You can reach us at 888.535.3686 or by submitting our online contact form. When you do, we will schedule a confidential consultation to discuss your case and to explain how we are able to help.