The Florida Commission for Independent Education has ordered the closure of Med-Life Institute in Lauderdale Lakes relating to criminal charges arising out of the FBI's Operation Nightingale nursing school fraud allegations. Those charges allege that Med-Life Institute Lauderdale Lakes officials sold fraudulent diplomas and transcripts so that nurses could take the NCLEX exam and qualify for state licensure.
If you hold credentials from Med-Life Institute in Lauderdale Lakes, you need skilled and experienced professional license defense attorney representation to address your nursing license issues. Call 888.535.3686 or go online now to retain the Lento Law Firm's Professional License Defense Team to help you defend your Med-Life Institute, Lauderdale Lakes credentials issues.
Med-Life Institute Lauderdale Lakes Approval
Department of Justice charging documents acknowledge that Med-Life Institute is a Florida limited liability company the Florida Board of Education approved to offer nursing education programs. Med-Life Institute maintained Lauderdale Lakes and West Palm Beach locations. Although Med-Life Institute's closure removed its advertising, other online information reflects that Med-Life Institute's Lauderdale Lakes campus offered several nursing programs, including licensed practical nurse (LPN) and registered nurse (RN) degree programs. State records indicate Med-Life Institute's incorporation in 2014, suggesting that it provided substantial nursing education under Florida Board of Education approval for several years before the current fraud scandal.
Med-Life Institute Lauderdale Lakes Credentials Scandal
The Florida Department for Education's Commission on Independent Education ordered the closure of Med-Life Institute in Lauderdale Lakes after the Department of Justice charged its proprietor Rhomy Louis with the fraudulent sale of school credentials. The charges allege that more than two dozen officials from several now-closed Florida nursing schools, including Med-Life Institute Lauderdale Lakes, sold fake diplomas and transcripts to thousands of nursing candidates. The charges further allege that those aspiring nurses used the false credentials to sit for the National Council Licensure Examination, get state nursing licenses, and go to work for hospitals and other healthcare providers across the country. Florida's closure order for Med-Life Institute Lauderdale Lakes specifically found that its proprietor Ms. Rhomy “operated an institution in a manner contrary to the health, education, and welfare of the public” relating to the “indictment involving fraud, deceit, dishonesty, or moral turpitude.”
Med-Life Institute Lauderdale Lakes Licensing Impacts
The criminal charges against Med-Life Institute Lauderdale Lakes' proprietor and others, and the closure of Med-Life Institute and several other Florida nursing schools, triggered state boards of nursing nationwide to take action against nurses holding credentials from the involved schools. For example, the Texas Board of Nursing publicly listed Med-Life Institute Lauderdale Lakes as among several other schools closed in the wake of the fraud scandal. The Texas Board of Nursing had already announced its investigation of nurses whom the FBI identified as having received false credentials.
The Maryland Board of Nursing, for another example, published an online notice to Med-Life Institute graduates that it did not consider their nursing program to qualify for state nursing licensure. Many other states took similar action, as the National Council of State Boards of Nursing urged nursing boards nationwide to investigate and revoke the licenses of nurses with fraudulent credentials from Med-Life Institute and the other involved schools. Nurses continue to face demands that they prove the credibility of their Med-Life Institute credentials.
Other Impacts from Med-Life Institute Credentials Issues
The impacts of the criminal charges against Med-Life Institute Lauderdale Lakes' proprietor and other school officials, and the closure of Med-Life Institute Lauderdale Lakes and other nursing school closures, have gone beyond license investigations and revocations. Nurses nationwide have also lost their nursing employment. Your state nursing board is not your only concern. Employers nationwide are requiring their nurses to prove the authenticity of their credentials from Med-Life Institute and other involved nursing schools or lose their employment.
Nurses who used their Med-Life Institute credentials to enter and earn degrees from other nursing schools may also face school investigation. Nursing schools may revoke the degrees of nurses who cannot prove that their Med-Life Institute entering credentials were legitimate. You could, in short, lose everything for which you paid, studied, and worked relating to your nursing career.
Value Your Med-Life Institute Lauderdale Lakes Credentials
Your choice to pursue your nursing education at Med-Life Institute's Lauderdale Lakes location at the time surely seemed a reasonable one. After all, you were attending a state-approved school, the graduates from which were sitting for and passing the National Council Licensure Exam. If you are now licensed, then you also passed the NCLEX, proving the value of your Med-Life Institute nursing education. If you are currently employed as a nurse, you've also shown that your nursing practice provides value to your employer and competent care to your patients. Don't diminish your accomplishments and the value of your nursing education and experience.
Fighting Med-Life Institute Lauderdale Lakes Credentials Issues
State licensing boards may not generally revoke a nursing license without providing a fair investigatory and adjudicatory procedure for the nurse to defend the license. But licensing proceedings involve complex administrative rules and customs. Don't attempt to defend your nursing license without skilled and experienced nursing license defense representation. You may need research, drafting, evidence presentation, cross-examination, appeal, and other attorney skills for your best outcome. Your retained license defense attorney can help you develop and deploy a strategic response to your Med-Life Institute Lauderdale Lakes credentials issues, depending on your specific circumstances and the demands of your state board of nursing. State boards nationwide are taking different approaches. Get the advocacy, communication, and negotiation skills you need for your best approach and outcome.
Defense for Med-Life Institute Lauderdale Lakes Graduates
The Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team and national professional license defense attorney Joseph D. Lento are available to help you defend your Med-Life Institute Lauderdale Lakes credentials. These skilled and experienced license defense attorneys have successfully helped hundreds of students and professionals nationwide to overcome serious issues threatening their education, licensure, employment, and career. Call 888.535.3686 or go online now to retain the best available professional license defense attorneys to address your Med-Life Institute Lauderdale Lakes credentials issues.
