The Lento Law Firm Defends Iowa LPNs
You need strategic and effective license defense attorney representation if you face Iowa Board of Nursing misconduct charges against your Iowa LPN license. Under Iowa Administrative Code 655.1.1, the Iowa Board of Nursing “protects the public health, safety, and welfare by regulating the licensure of nurses [and] practice of nursing....” Misconduct charges place your Iowa nursing practice and employment at risk. The Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team can help you defend Iowa Board of Nursing disciplinary charges to preserve your valuable LPN license and employment. Call 888.535.3686 or chat with us now.
Iowa LPN Practice Rewards
Your Iowa LPN practice should bring you substantial personal, professional, and financial rewards. You likely already enjoy those rewards in your nursing practice in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Iowa City, Sioux City, West Des Moines, Ankeny, Waterloo, Ames, Council Bluffs, Dubuque, Urbandale, Marion, or another charming Iowa city, town, or region. Keep in mind all the benefits you and your family reap, and the value to your patients, profession, and community, of your Iowa LPN practice. Don't underestimate all that you gain and expect to gain from continuing that practice. Let us help you defend your Iowa Board of Nursing disciplinary charges.
Nationwide Stakes to Iowa LPN Discipline
The Iowa Board of Nursing participates in the National Nurse Licensure Compact, meaning that you can license by reciprocity or endorsement in Iowa and other participating states. Reciprocity or endorsement saves you from having to go through the arduous licensing process, including proving your education and good moral character, and taking the NCLEX-PN all over again. Licensing by reciprocity or endorsement can save you thousands of dollars, many hours of study and examination time, and months of delay. But reciprocity also means that if you lose your Iowa LPN license to Iowa Board of Nursing disciplinary charges, you will likely lose LPN licenses you hold in other states or lose the opportunity to gain an LPN license in another state to which you move to practice nursing. In short, your Iowa Board of Nursing disciplinary proceedings have nationwide stakes. Let us help you defend your Iowa misconduct charges.
Iowa LPN Licensure
Iowa Administrative Code 655.3.2, titled “Mandatory Licensure,” requires that you have a current LPN license if you intend to continue to practice nursing in Iowa. An Iowa Board of Nursing license is mandatory to practice nursing within the state, no matter where your employer is located. Iowa Administrative Code 655.4.7 authorizes the Board of Nursing to impose up to a $1,000 fine for every violation it finds, including practicing nursing without a current LPN license. You need your current LPN license to maintain your Iowa nursing practice and employment and to earn your current or future Iowa nursing income. Let us help you preserve and protect your LPN license and employment against Iowa Board of Nursing disciplinary charges.
Iowa LPN Qualifications
Iowa Administrative Code 655.3.3 sets forth the arduous qualifications you had to meet for your LPN license. Those qualifications include graduation from an accredited nursing program and passing the NCLEX-PN licensing exam for licensed practical nurses. Earning your LPN degree and passing the nursing exam took you years of study and many thousands of dollars of investment. Iowa Board of Nursing misconduct charges against your LPN license put all your substantial investment at risk, when you expect a substantial return on that investment from your LPN employment and income. Don't lose your investment. Let us help you defend the disciplinary charges for the best outcome.
Iowa LPN Disciplinary Authority
The Iowa Board of Nursing has the state's disciplinary authority. Take that authority seriously. The Board of Nursing has career professionals and is fully committed to investigating and pursuing disciplinary charges. Iowa Administrative Code 655.4.1 states plainly that the Iowa Board of Nursing may discipline a nursing license that the Board has issued. Iowa Administrative Code 655.4.7 expressly authorizes the Iowa Board of Nursing to suspend or revoke your LPN license. The Board of Nursing won't ignore complaints of substandard practice or unqualified or impaired nurses. Board of Nursing officials will investigate each complaint until satisfied that they have carried out their statutory and regulatory duties. You don't face a level playing field when facing disciplinary charges alone. Nurses generally lack procedural advocacy skills, independent strategic judgment, and substantive law knowledge to protect themselves against discipline. Let our highly skilled attorneys help you level the playing field.
Iowa LPN Disciplinary Decisions
The Iowa Board of Nursing posts its disciplinary decisions in the Iowa License Portal for public viewing. You won't be able to hide your Iowa Board of Nursing discipline if you fail to take your disciplinary charges seriously and accordingly suffer discipline. Your employer will be able to discover your discipline, of which the Board of Nursing may notify your employer. You would also likely have the duty to do so. The Iowa Board of Nursing will also notify other licensing boards from which you hold an LPN license through the Nursys national database. You would also likely have a duty to disclose your discipline when applying for another LPN license or seeking to renew your current LPN licenses in other states. Better to stand and fight your Iowa Board of Nursing charges than to hope to conceal your discipline. It is best to retain our highly skilled attorneys for your successful defense.
Iowa LPN Disciplinary Sanctions
If you suffer LPN license suspension or revocation, you won't practice nursing in Iowa for the duration of those penalties. You will thus likely lose your LPN employment and income. Yet Iowa Administrative Code 655.4.7 does more than simply authorize your LPN license suspension or revocation. It further authorizes other forms of disciplinary sanction, including a limit on your license, additional education or training, mental or physical examination, and counseling or treatment, or probation with terms and conditions. While these lesser sanctions may sound manageable, any sanction, even so little as a reprimand, could cause your nursing employer to terminate your employment for reputational and liability reasons. Our attorneys will thus advocate for no sanction or only remedial relief rather than any form of discipline. Remedial relief like additional education or training could convince Iowa Board of Nursing officials that harsh punitive sanctions are unwarranted and could preserve your nursing employment. Let us present a case in mitigation of any disciplinary sanction.
Iowa LPN License Reinstatement
Iowa Administrative Code 655.3.7 authorizes Iowa Board of Nursing officials to renew or reactivate a surrendered or otherwise lapsed LPN license. You may be able to regain your LPN license if you have already lost it relating to misconduct allegations or disciplinary charges. Let our attorneys help you evaluate your LPN license reinstatement rights. If you qualify for reinstatement, then let us help you prepare the required application with reliable supporting documentation, and attend the reinstatement hearing. Reinstatement is not automatic. If you qualify, you'd have to convince Iowa Board of Nursing officials to exercise their discretion in your favor. Let us put together your best case for reinstatement. Your LPN employment and career are worth it.
Grounds for Iowa LPN Discipline
Iowa Code Section 147.55 lists the statutory grounds for LPN license discipline. Iowa Administrative Code 655.4.6 specifies the equivalent regulatory grounds for LPN license discipline. Iowa Board of Nursing officials cannot simply make up the charges. They must articulate regulatory grounds for discipline among the grounds that the regulation lists. Board of Nursing officials have many grounds from which to choose, and some of the grounds are remarkably broad. Below are several of the more common grounds and how our skilled attorneys may be able to defend you against those misconduct charges.
Credential Fraud as Ground for Iowa LPN Discipline
Iowa Code Section 147.55 includes “fraud in procuring a license” as grounds for discipline. Examples of credential fraud include misrepresenting your LPN degree or education, concealing a disqualifying criminal conviction or impairment, or even cheating on the NCLEX-PN, such as impersonating someone or having someone impersonate you to take the examination. We may be able to defend those charges by showing that you had no disqualifying conviction or impairment, any omission from your LPN application was immaterial and innocent rather than material and deliberate, and that your representations were otherwise accurate.
Incompetence as Ground for Iowa LPN Discipline
Iowa Code Section 147.55 includes “professional incompetency” as grounds for discipline. Iowa Administrative Code 655.4.6 gives examples of lacking nursing knowledge, skill, or ability, deviating from nursing standards, or willful failure to practice with reasonable safety. We may be able to defend those charges by showing that your nursing practice met minimum standards, that others were responsible for any incompetence, or that you followed the reasonable instructions of nursing supervisors.
Substance Abuse as Ground for Iowa LPN Discipline
Iowa Code Section 147.55 includes “habitual intoxication or addiction to the use of drugs” as grounds for discipline. We may be able to defend those charges by showing that you were not intoxicated by alcohol or impaired by drugs, you had an unexpected prescription medication reaction, or you have already addressed your substance use issues, leaving no risk to patients or the public. Beware offers or demands from the Iowa Board of Nursing that you enroll in its nurse assistance disciplinary diversion program. Those programs can be so arduous, in frequent testing drops, counseling sessions, assessments, and reports, as to create risks of discipline from non-compliance, even if you have no remaining substance use issue. Let us advise you on your better course, which may be to simply contest the charges while showing your own treatment and recovery.
Felony Conviction as Ground for Iowa LPN Discipline
Iowa Code Section 147.55 includes as grounds for discipline conviction of any felony crime “related to the profession or occupation” or “that would affect the licensee's ability to practice” nursing. Examples include violent felonies like assault and battery, dishonest felonies like embezzlement, and drug felonies. We may be able to defend those charges by showing that you did not suffer the conviction officials allege, your conviction was only a misdemeanor rather than a felony, or the court reversed your conviction.
Iowa LPN Disciplinary Procedures
The Iowa Board of Nursing must offer you protective procedures when pursuing disciplinary charges against you. Your constitutional right to due process requires those protections in any proceeding in which you may lose your property or liberty interest in your LPN license. Iowa Administrative Code 655.4.1, granting Board of Nursing officials the authority to pursue discipline against your LPN license, incorporates the protections of the state's Administrative Procedures Act. Those protections include fair notice of the charges and a hearing before an impartial administrative law judge. Let us invoke those protections on your behalf and appear for you at the formal hearing. If you have already lost your hearing, we may be able to appeal your discipline or obtain a court review and reversal of your discipline.
Premier Iowa LPN Defense Services
The Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team is available across Iowa, including in Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Iowa City, Sioux City, West Des Moines, Ankeny, Waterloo, Ames, Council Bluffs, Dubuque, Urbandale, Marion, and other cities and towns, to defend your LPN license against Iowa Board of Nursing misconduct charges. We have successfully defended the licenses of hundreds of nurses and other professionals in Iowa and across the nation. Call 888.535.3686 or chat with us now.
