Earning your nursing license took years of study, training, hard work, and dedication. To go through all this effort, you likely felt a desire to help people suffering from health problems and wanted to provide care and comfort to patients. Once you became a licensed nurse, you surely felt a sense of pride, as well as optimism for your future.
But despite your dedication to your profession, sometimes your life outside of work can get in the way and threaten your nursing license. For nurses in the greater Nashville, Tennessee, area, trouble in your personal life can put your nursing license in jeopardy. If you’re facing accusations of domestic violence or restrictions from a protection order, your right to continue working as a nurse may be at risk.
If you’re a nurse in the greater Nashville area and you find yourself in this precarious situation, you need to turn to a legal team that knows how to defend your nursing license and your career. The Professional License Defense Team at the LLF National Law Firm has years of experience defending nurses in the Nashville metropolitan area and nationwide. We understand the intricacies of nursing license defense, and we can protect your rights throughout the disciplinary process, giving you the best chances of a successful outcome. Call us at 888-535-3686 or complete our confidential contact form to learn more.
Working as a Nurse in the Greater Nashville Area
With a population of nearly 2.5 million people, the greater Nashville region is a huge metropolitan area with a massive need for qualified nurses. In addition to Nashville, the area includes Davidson, Murfreesboro, Franklin, and a host of smaller towns.
Nurses in the Nashville metropolitan area face plenty of challenges in their jobs. Providing patient care is hard enough, but in Nashville, these difficulties are only compounded. The area suffers from a shortage of nurses and an increase in workplace violence. These issues lead to burnout and stress for nurses who are having to work extra hours in high-intensity environments.
These problems at work can make nurses more likely to take their stress home with them, which can result in situations of domestic violence. These incidents can then come back to haunt you when domestic abuse charges put your nursing license at risk.
Oversight of Nashville Area Nurses
To work as a nurse in the Nashville area or anywhere in the state, you must have a nursing license from the Tennessee Board of Nursing. This board is responsible for issuing nursing licenses, regulating the practice of nursing, and enforcing laws governing nurses in Tennessee.
If someone files a complaint against you, the Board of Nursing will investigate the allegations and pursue disciplinary action against you if necessary. In the case of a nurse who is under a protection order or facing allegations of domestic violence, the board may still take action against you, even when the accusations you’re facing have nothing to do with your job or your performance as a nurse.
In this case, you need an experienced license defense team that can work with the Tennessee Board of Nursing on your behalf and help minimize the consequences to your license. The LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team understands how these charges can affect your license and knows how to protect your right to keep working as a nurse.
Protection Orders and Domestic Assault Charges in the Nashville Metropolitan Area
Each state has specific guidelines and definitions related to domestic assault, as well as parameters for issuing protection orders. The definition of a “domestic abuse victim” in Tennessee’s Domestic Assault law can apply to current or former spouses, domestic partners, people in dating relationships, and children, either by birth or adoption, as well as children of current and former partners.
In the greater Nashville area, people that the law classifies as domestic abuse victims can petition the court for a protection order. In Tennessee, courts can issue a protection order without a hearing as long as the court deems there is good cause for it, which means that someone can get a protection order against you without the same amount of evidence they would need for criminal charges.
Additionally, someone who qualifies as a domestic abuse victim can charge you with domestic assault. If you get convicted of domestic assault, you can face more penalties than other types of assault cases, such as mandatory drug or alcohol rehab programs or counseling programs.
Protection order petitions are civil cases, while domestic assault charges fall under the category of criminal charges. In either case, these charges are outside the jurisdiction of the Tennessee Board of Nursing. But the board can still take action against you and your license if you’re under a protection order or facing domestic violence charges.
Reporting Requirements for Protection Orders and Domestic Assault Charges
The Tennessee Board of Nursing doesn’t require you to report criminal charges to them. If you’re facing a protection order or charges of domestic abuse, you’re under no obligation to let the board know.
The board does have reporting requirements for convictions, but even those give you a wide berth as far as when you must report them. If you’re applying for or renewing your nursing license in the greater Nashville area, you must let the board know of—
- A felony conviction in the last 10 years
- A single misdemeanor conviction or multiple misdemeanor convictions from the same incident within the last 5 years
- Multiple felony convictions, regardless of when they occurred
- Multiple misdemeanor convictions from more than one incident, regardless of when they occurred
While you don’t legally have to report a protection order or domestic violence charges, and you have years before you have to report a single conviction, it’s often smart to report these things to the Board of Nursing anyway. If they find out another way—either from someone filing a complaint against you or from the state reporting a conviction—they may respond more harshly than if you told them up front.
This is just one more reason why you should enlist the services of the LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team. We can help you navigate the nuances of dealing with the Tennessee Board of Nursing. We can help you figure out when and what to disclose to the board, and we can help you prepare any disclosure statements and relay the information in the best light possible.
How Protection Orders and Domestic Assault Charges Can Affect Your Nursing License
Even though you don’t have to report a protection order or domestic assault charges in Tennessee, they can still put your license at risk. If the board learns of these things from an outside source, they may still pursue disciplinary action against you if they have reason to believe that the charges may affect your ability to do your job or that your continued work can threaten public safety.
The Tennessee Board of Nursing will accept a complaint against you from any member of the public, not just patients, their families, or other people you interact with at work. So, if someone petitions for a protection order or accuses you of domestic violence, that person can also try to get the Board of Nursing to limit your right to work.
Similarly, if you have a conviction of domestic abuse—even when you plead guilty or no contest—the Board of Nursing can learn of the conviction through a background check, the legal system, or the domestic abuse victim.
Once the board receives a complaint against you—and often when you self-report any charges or convictions—you’ll have to go through the standard disciplinary process that follows complaints of any kind of misconduct.
The Disciplinary Process for Nashville Area Nurses
When the Board of Nursing initiates the disciplinary process, they’ll notify you and give you 30 days to respond in writing. The board will conduct an investigation, during which an investigator will probably interview you and others involved in the complaint.
Once the investigation is complete, the board will review all the information and decide whether to file disciplinary charges. In some instances, the board will dismiss the case or issue a simple letter of correction. If they feel further action is necessary, they may try to negotiate an agreement with you. If you and the board can’t come to an agreement, the case will proceed to a hearing, where both sides can present their cases.
Whether you negotiate an agreement or go through a hearing, sanctions against you can include:
- A reprimand
- Probation
- Restrictions on your license
- License suspension
- License revocation
It’s in your best interest to have a legal team represent you throughout this process, one that is experienced in license defense. Going through the disciplinary process and a hearing with a licensing board is not the same as going through a criminal case. Criminal lawyers know how to defend you against criminal charges. The Professional License Defense Team at the LLF National Law Firm knows how to defend your nursing license, protect your rights throughout the disciplinary process, and work with the Tennessee Board of Nursing to help you keep your career on track.
When Will the Board of Nursing Pursue Disciplinary Action?
Just because you’re under a protection order or facing charges of domestic assault doesn’t mean the Tennessee Board of Nursing will necessarily pursue disciplinary action against your license. There’s no black-and-white answer to know when the board will come after you or how intent they’ll be on limiting your nursing license.
A lot of factors can affect the board’s decision of whether to pursue charges against nurses in the greater Nashville metropolitan area who are facing legal trouble outside of their jobs. Did someone file a complaint against you, or did you willingly report the charges or conviction to the board? Do the charges in any way relate to or affect your ability to do your job? How severe are the allegations of misconduct? Are you facing accusations but no actual criminal charges? Are you able to get the charges reduced? And how well are you presenting your side of the story?
Ultimately, the board will try to determine whether the charges against you can in any way affect your ability to provide care to patients or pose any danger to public health and safety. Having the right legal team on your side can have a huge impact on whether the Board of Nursing pursues disciplinary action against you and how aggressively they try to come after you
The Professional License Defense Team at the LLF National Law Firm is your best option for navigating this situation and working with the Tennessee Board of Nursing to defend your license.
Turn to the LLF National Law Firm
Facing a protection order or charges of domestic violence is a harrowing life experience. You’ll already have your hands full dealing with the criminal charges. The last thing you need is to worry about your nursing license and your livelihood.
That’s where the LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team comes in. We can help you figure out how to best handle the situation with the Board of Nursing, and we can help you keep your nursing license.
The LLF National Law Firm can help you:
- Determine whether it’s in your best interest to disclose the protection order or domestic violence charges to the Board of Nursing.
- Prepare your disclosure statement and written response to the initial notification of an investigation.
- Prepare for interviews with investigators and make sure you know how to best present your side of the story.
- Negotiate with the Board of Nursing on your behalf for case dismissal or a lenient agreement.
- Represent you at a hearing.
- Make sure the Board of Nursing is correctly following its procedures.
- Defend your rights throughout the disciplinary process.
Regardless of what is happening in your personal life, the Professional License Defense Team at the LLF National Law Firm believes that you deserve the chance to protect your nursing license. We understand that even when things are going wrong at home, you can come to work and provide great care to your patients.
We believe nurses in the greater Nashville area deserve the best license defense possible when domestic violence charges threaten your license, and we know how to give it to you. Call us at 888-535-3686 or complete our confidential contact form to schedule a consultation and get started.