Here's the bottom line: if nursing were easy, everyone would do it. You have an enormous responsibility as a nurse. You hold your patients' welfare, and sometimes even their very lives, in your hands. At the same time, you're expected to know an impossible amount of information and to make critical decisions on the basis of this information. That's a lot to be asked. You must be held to a higher standard, but when are standards simply too high? 

If you've made a mistake, if your state licensing board is trying to hold you responsible for that mistake, you can't afford to try and handle the situation yourself. The Lento Law Firm's Professional License Defense Team is here to help. We know the law, and we know how your state licensing system works. Most important of all, we know you deserve fair treatment and the best possible resolution to your case. To find out more, contact the Lento Law Firm today at 888-535-3686 or use the automated online form.   

The Dangers of Ketamine 

In late November 2023, Prescott, Arizona, nurse practitioner Phillip Schafer found his license suspended, primarily for using Ketamine in his aesthetic medicine practice. According to news reports, Schafer administered the drug to seven different patients without “first obtaining proper consent or medical clearance.”  

To be sure, Ketamine can be a dangerous drug, particularly in its street form, “Special K.” It can have powerful hallucinogenic properties and can produce a “trance-like” state, disassociation, and amnesia.  

Here's the thing, though: Ketamine also has a number of approved usages. It is, for example, used frequently as an anesthesia because of its powerful sedative and pain relief properties. Many of Schafer's patients were undergoing aesthetic procedures of one form or another that required anesthesia. In addition, Ketamine has been used successfully in small doses as a treatment for depression. Schafer was also accused of prescribing the drug to patients he had diagnosed with “treatment-resistant” depression. In suspending his license, the Arizona board noted that in doing so, he had failed to collaborate with a specialist mental health provider. But for a consultation, then, he might have been safe in his conduct. 

Perhaps the most important aspect of this story is that Schafer seems to have had his patients' best interests at heart. That is, he was prescribing an appropriate drug for a condition he had diagnosed. To be sure, he prescribed it in inappropriate conditions, including the lack of proper supervision or collaboration. But this isn't uncommon in license defense cases. Licensed health care providers wind up crossing a line, either because that line was simply too difficult to distinguish properly or because they felt they had a responsibility to help their patients, or both. 

Mr. Schafer was actually very lucky. He received a thirty-seven-month license suspension followed by an education course in the proper use of Ketamine and a period of supervised probation. Professional licensing boards take their jobs seriously and sometimes hand down sanctions that are far harsher.  

Ultimately, though, what happened to him happened not because he put his patients in extreme danger or because he flouted the conventions of his profession. Whether intentionally or otherwise, he pushed a boundary in pursuit of a positive health result.  

The Lento Law Firm Can Help 

The thing about licensing cases is that they are almost never about clear violations of the law or the strictures of the profession. They are about mistakes: honest mistakes. That only makes these cases all the more frightening, though, since they point out how an honest mistake can put your entire career at risk.  

Don't let it happen to you. If you're under investigation, or you think you might be investigated soon, contact the Lento Law Firm's Professional License Defense Team immediately. We can help you respond to questions from investigators; we'll work with you to develop and implement a defense strategy, and we'll protect your rights.  

To find out more, call 888-535-3686 today or use the automated online form.