The Lento Law Firm Defends Hawaii LPNs
The Hawaii Board of Nursing has the statutory charge to “safeguard life and health” through your strict regulation, including your discipline for misconduct, as a licensed practical nurse caring for patients within the state. You need skilled and experienced legal representation if you face Hawaii Board of Nursing LPN misconduct charges. For your best possible disciplinary outcome, let the Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team defend your Hawaii Board of Nursing misconduct charges. Protect and preserve your valuable LPN license and employment. Call 888.535.3686 or chat with us now.
Hawaii LPN Practice Rewards
Hawaii is a fantastic place to live, and as long as you can afford it, it has a generally higher cost of living. Employment as an LPN can be a great way to provide for yourself and your family while enjoying Hawaii's spectacular natural beauty, diverse culture, and friendly people. You know how your LPN income and practice reward you and your family. Providing nursing services in Urban Honolulu, East Honolulu, Hilo, Pearl City, Kailua CDP, Waipahu, Kaneohe, Mililani Town, Kahului, Ewa Gentry, or another fine Hawaii city or town can be an especially rewarding professional practice, given the state's strong commitment to sound healthcare and the beautiful scenery, ocean weather, and appreciative population. Protect your Hawaii Board of Nursing LPN license against disciplinary charges with the effective representation of our skilled and experienced attorneys.
Nationwide Stakes to Hawaii LPN Discipline
Your Hawaii Board of Nursing misconduct charges threaten your ability to practice across the country, not just in Hawaii. Under Hawaii Statutes Section 457-5.5, Hawaii participates in the Nurse Licensure Compact and its Nursys database for nursing licenses and discipline against those licenses. Your Hawaii LPN license could get you an LPN license in another participating state simply by reciprocity or endorsement. Reciprocity means you don't have to retake the NCLEX or repeat your qualifying work experience. Reciprocity can save you thousands of dollars and a lot of delay and effort trying to gain another LPN license to practice in a different state. But if you lose your LPN license to the Hawaii Board of Nursing discipline, then that discipline goes into the Nursys database, affecting your ability to license elsewhere. And if you already hold an LPN license in another state, you could lose that LPN to your Hawaii discipline. Let us help you avoid nationwide consequences.
Hawaii LPN Licensure
The Hawaii Board of Nursing has the state legislature's authority to license LPNs who wish to practice nursing in the state. Hawaii Statutes Section 457.8 grants the Board of Nursing the power to issue LPN licenses to individuals who qualify by examination or reciprocity. You must retain your Hawaii Board of Nursing LPN license against disciplinary charges if you intend to continue working as a nurse in the state. Hawaii Statutes Section 457.1 makes it unlawful to practice nursing in the state without your LPN license. If you practice nursing on a suspended or revoked LPN license, you can face criminal conviction under Hawaii Statutes Section 457.14 for a misdemeanor offense. Unauthorized nursing practice offenses carry a $500 fine for a first offense, a $1,000 fine, and up to one year in jail for subsequent offenses. Let us help you defend your LPN license against Hawaii Board of Nursing misconduct charges. You won't practice nursing in Hawaii without your LPN license.
Hawaii LPN Qualifications
It wasn't easy for you to get your Hawaii Board of Nursing LPN license, or, if you got your Hawaii LPN by reciprocity, then you had to get your first LPN license under which you obtained your Hawaii LPN. Hawaii Statutes Section 457.8 requires the Board of Nursing to issue LPN licenses only to individuals who qualify by examination or reciprocity. Either in Hawaii or your first state of LPN licensure, you had to prove that you had earned your LPN degree from an accredited institution, passed the NCLEX for LPNs, had good moral character, and completed the work experience required for licensure. Meeting those requirements took you many thousands of dollars and hours. Your Hawaii Board of Nursing misconduct charges put all that investment at risk of loss. Remember what it took to earn your LPN license. Let us help you preserve your investment so that you can earn the substantial return you expected. We can help you obtain your best outcome to disciplinary charges.
Hawaii LPN Disciplinary Authority
The Hawaii Board of Nursing not only has the power to license LPNs for practice in the state, but Under Hawaii Statutes Section 457.12, the Hawaii Board of Nursing also has the power to “deny, revoke, limit, or suspend” an LPN license it has issued, on disciplinary charges. The Hawaii Board of Nursing has carried out its statutory authority to discipline your LPN license with Hawaii Administrative Regulation 16-89-63, adopting the state's administrative procedures for pursuing disciplinary charges. The Hawaii Board of Nursing has the power, authority, responsibility, commitment, and staff to investigate the allegations against you, file and pursue the disciplinary charges, and enforce whatever sanction it determines. Don't doubt the Board of Nursing's commitment. Instead, let our highly skilled attorneys help you level the playing field for your best disciplinary outcome.
Hawaii LPN Disciplinary Decisions
You won't be able to conceal your discipline if the Hawaii Board of Nursing imposes it. The Hawaii Board of Nursing reports its disciplinary findings to the Hawaii Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, which publishes those findings online in a database that anyone can search. The Department's disciplinary action reports include the name, license number, misconduct, and penalty imposed against every LPN or other nurse the Hawaii Board of Nursing finds committed sanctionable misconduct. You will also likely have duties to report your discipline to any other licensing board from which you hold a nursing license in another state. You may also have to report your discipline to your current nursing employer and any prospective employers. Even your colleagues, patients, friends, and family members can find out about your discipline from the online database or others. Don't expect to hide your discipline. Instead, let us help you avoid it.
Hawaii LPN Disciplinary Sanctions
As indicated above, Hawaii Statutes Section 457.12 gives the Board of Nursing the power to “deny, revoke, limit, or suspend” an LPN license it has issued on grounds of misconduct. License revocation or suspension means you will lose your ability to practice nursing in Hawaii for the duration. A limit on your license, whether to certain services, locations, patients, practices, or supervision, may also cause your employer to determine that it should not or cannot employ you. Hawaii Administrative Regulation 16-89-63 extends the Board of Nursing's disciplinary authority to include lesser sanctions, such as probation with conditions. Our attorneys may be able to use that discretionary Board of Nursing authority to argue for remedial relief like your additional education or training, or your medical examination and treatment or counseling, to avoid any disciplinary penalty interrupting your nursing employment.
Hawaii LPN License Reinstatement
The Hawaii Board of Nursing's administrative regulations may authorize Board officials to reinstate your LPN license after its suspension or other lapse, under certain conditions. If you have already lost your Hawaii LPN license, let our attorneys investigate whether you qualify for license reinstatement. If so, then we can help you prepare the written application and documentation and attend the hearing to make the required showing for reinstatement.
Grounds for Hawaii LPN Discipline
Our strategic defense of your Hawaii Board of Nursing disciplinary charges will depend on the alleged grounds for your discipline. Hawaii Statutes Section 457.12 lists the grounds on which Hawaii Board of Nursing officials may suspend, revoke, or otherwise discipline your LPN license. The Hawaii Board of Nursing further articulated those disciplinary grounds in its Regulation 16-89-60. While the potential grounds for discipline are many and broad, here are some of the more common grounds and how we may be able to defend them.
Credential Fraud as Grounds for Hawaii LPN Discipline
Hawaii Statutes Section 457.12 lists “fraud or deceit in procuring or attempting to procure a license to practice nursing” as a first ground for discipline. Credential fraud examples include misrepresenting your LPN degree, cheating on the NCLEX, concealing a disqualifying conviction from your LPN application, or misrepresenting your work experience. We may be able to defend those charges by showing that your applications were accurate and complete, that any error or omission was mistaken rather than deliberate, and that any error or omission was also immaterial, meaning that you were continuously qualified for your LPN license.
Gross Immorality as Grounds for Hawaii LPN Discipline
Hawaii Statutes Section 457.12 next lists “gross immorality” as grounds for discipline. Examples include indecent exposure, sexual assault or relations with a patient, or offering or soliciting pornography. We may be able to defend those charges by showing that the allegations were false and retaliatory, that the complainants misidentified you, that others were responsible for the alleged wrongs, or that the complainants were deluded and misconstrued your reasonable intentions.
Incompetence as Grounds for Hawaii LPN Discipline
Hawaii Statutes Section 457.12 lists “unfitness or incompetence by reason of negligence, habits, or other causes” as grounds for discipline. Examples include dropping and injuring a patient, administering the wrong medications, or ignoring bedrail orders or other physician instructions resulting in patient harm or risk. We may be able to defend those charges by showing that you complied with all orders, met all nursing standards, and had a patient misidentify you or misconstrue your reasonable actions.
Substance Abuse as Grounds for Hawaii LPN Discipline
Hawaii Statutes Section 457.12 lists “habitual intemperance” or “addiction to or dependency on alcohol or other habit-forming substances” as grounds for discipline. We may be able to defend those charges by showing that you did not abuse substances, you had a prescription medication reaction, or you have addressed your substance issues. Beware offers of a diversion program, which may prove so arduous and unnecessary that you face discipline for non-compliance, even if you have corrected your substance issues.
Unprofessionalism as Grounds for Hawaii LPN Discipline
Hawaii Statutes Section 457.12 lists “unprofessional conduct” as the Hawaii Board of Nursing defines as grounds for discipline. Examples from Hawaii Board of Nursing Regulation 16-89-60 include confidentiality breaches or abandoning a patient. We may be able to defend those charges by showing that the allegations are false, others were responsible, or you acted under reasonable belief in the reasonableness of a supervisor's orders.
Hawaii LPN Disciplinary Procedures
You have constitutional rights to due process when facing Hawaii Board of Nursing misconduct charges threatening suspension or revocation of your LPN license. The Hawaii Board of Nursing recognized its obligation to give you fair notice of the charges and a fair hearing before an impartial decision maker when it adopted its Regulation 16-89-63 incorporating the state's administrative procedures for contested cases. Those protective procedures, though, are not self-executing. We can help you invoke them. Our attorneys can help you review the notice of charges, review the evidence the Board intends to present against you, and attend the formal hearing to present your exonerating and mitigating evidence. We can also appeal any adverse decision if you have already lost your hearing. If you have already lost your appeal, our attorneys may be able to gain court review and reversal for violation of your due process rights or other irregularities.
Premier Hawaii LPN Defense Services
The Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team is available across Hawaii, including in Urban Honolulu, East Honolulu, Hilo, Pearl City, Kailua CDP, Waipahu, Kaneohe, Mililani Town, Kahului, Ewa Gentry, and other cities and towns, to defend your LPN license against Hawaii Board of Nursing misconduct charges. We help hundreds of nurses and other professionals with effective and successful license defense. Call 888.535.3686 or chat with us now.
