The Lento Law Firm Defends Maine LPNs
The Maine State Board of Nursing boldly declares its mission to “protect the public health and welfare in the area of nursing practice.” Don't doubt the resolve, commitment, and resources of Maine State Board of Nursing officials to carry out their regulatory mission by pursuing disciplinary charges against your LPN license. Don't ignore or minimize your LPN license disciplinary charges. Instead, retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team to help you defend your Maine State Board of Nursing disciplinary charges. Your Maine LPN license and practice are worth preserving. Call 888.535.3686 or chat with us now.
Maine LPN Practice Rewards
You rightly anticipate substantial financial, personal, and professional rewards from your Maine LPN practice and employment. You work hard in that practice, after having worked hard to qualify yourself for licensed practical nursing. Maine can be a great state in which to practice nursing. Maine cities and towns like Portland, South Portland, Lewiston, Bangor, Auburn, Sanford, Buxton, South Paris, Windham, North Berwick, Waterboro, Scarborough, and Oakland provide stable and friendly populations in beautiful natural environments. The state's large, mid-sized, and smaller healthcare systems like Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems, MaineGeneral Health, Central Maine Healthcare Corporation, LincolnHealth Medical Partners, MaineHealth Services, St. Mary's Health System, and MaineGeneral Medical Center provide sophisticated healthcare practices with secure employment and rewarding benefits. Keep these rewards and benefits in mind when deciding how seriously to take your Maine State Board of Nursing LPN license misconduct charges. Retain our highly skilled attorneys to preserve the rewards of your Maine LPN practice and employment.
Nationwide Stakes to Maine LPN Discipline
Maine's legislature has authorized the Maine State Board of Nursing to participate in the Nurse Licensure Compact and its national Nursys discipline reporting database. The Maine State Board of Nursing encourages the state's nurse employers to refer to that national discipline database for discipline that it or other state licensing boards impose against LPNs and other nurses. If you suffer from the Maine State Board of Nursing discipline against your LPN license, you could lose the LPN licenses you hold in other states and lose the opportunity to gain LPN licenses in other states through reciprocal endorsement. Reciprocal endorsement ordinarily saves a nurse thousands of dollars, months of delay, and substantial time and effort in gaining a new license in another state, after having already qualified. Don't lose your reciprocal rights to gain and hold an LPN license nationwide simply by ignoring or minimizing your Maine State Board of Nursing misconduct charges. Instead, get our highly effective defense representation.
Maine LPN Licensure
Maine's legislature adopted the Maine Nurse Practice Act, codified at 32 Maine Statutes Sections 2101 et seq., to regulate the practice of nursing in the state. Section 2101 of the Nurse Practice Act makes it unlawful to practice practical nursing, use the LPN title or abbreviation, or otherwise hold oneself out as a licensed practical nurse, without holding a current Maine State Board of Nursing LPN license. Section 2106 of the Maine Nurse Practice Act makes it a Class E crime to practice without a license or on a suspended or revoked license. Maine punishes Class E crimes with up to a $1,000 fine and 180 days in jail for each violation. Section 2106-A permits the Maine State Board of Nursing to alternatively fine a nurse $1,000 for each violation, while Section 2107 authorizes the Board to obtain a court injunctionagainst unauthorized nursing practice, punishable by contempt of court. You must not practice as an LPN without a current Maine State Board of Nursing license. Let us help you defend your license.
Maine LPN Qualifications
Maine's Nurse Practice Act Sections 2251-A and 2252 name the qualifications you met for your Maine LPN license. As you know, those qualifications included graduation from an approved LPN program and passing the NCLEX-PN or an equivalent nurse licensing exam. You also had to submit the required application with all attendant documentation, showing not only your education and examination but also your good moral character and clean criminal record. Meeting the education and examination requirements took you years of time, expense, and effort, amounting to a very substantial investment, especially considering your nursing program tuition, room and board, and your forgone earnings while studying nursing. Don't lose all that investment to Maine State Board of Nursing disciplinary charges. Let us help defend and defeat the charges.
Maine LPN Disciplinary Authority
The Maine State Board of Nursing has the authority not only to license you as an LPN for practice in the state but also to investigate and discipline your license. Section 2105-A of the Maine Nurse Practice Act authorizes the State Board of Nursing to suspend or revoke your LPN license on specified grounds. The same section spells out the administrative procedures the Maine State Board of Nursing must follow when investigating complaints, charging an LPN, and imposing sanctions. The Maine State Board of Nursing has the assistance and resources of the Maine Department of Professional & Financial Regulation behind it when pursuing misconduct charges against an LPN. Don't doubt the State Board of Nursing's commitment, resources, resolve, or the skill and experience of its disciplinary officials when facing your LPN licensing charges. Let us help you level the playing field with our attorneys' own premier skills and experience.
Maine LPN Disciplinary Decisions
The Maine State Board of Nursing posts its disciplinary actions on a publicly available webpage for anyone to read. If you suffer from Maine State Board of Nursing discipline, your name, license number, date of sanction, type of sanctions, and grounds for sanction will all appear on the public webpage and its convenient link to your disciplinary report. You won't be able to conceal your Maine State Board of Nursing discipline from your professional colleagues or your nursing employer. The State Board itself may report your discipline to your employer and other state boards from which you hold a healthcare license. You will also likely have a duty to report your discipline when seeking to renew another healthcare license and when applying for other healthcare employment. Even your friends and family members may be able to readily discover your professional discipline. Don't expect to hide it. Instead, retain us to avoid it.
Maine LPN Disciplinary Sanctions
Section 2105-A of the Maine Nurse Practice Act expressly authorizes the State Board of Nursing to “modify, suspend, revoke or refuse to renew” your LPN license on grounds the statute specifies. LPN license suspension or revocation means not working as a nurse in Maine for the duration of the sanction. The same statute also authorizes other sanctions, including that the State Board may “warn, censure or reprimand,” impose terms and conditions, or enter into a consent agreement with you with terms and conditions you must meet to keep your LPN license while on probation or to get your suspended LPN license back. Those alternative sanctions give our attorneys the opportunity to advocate for your remedial relief rather than punitive discipline. Your remedial relief could amount to additional education or training you are glad to complete or your mental or physical exam and treatment that you need. We may, in short, be able to put on a case in mitigation of any sanction that preserves your LPN license and employment.
Maine LPN License Reinstatement
If you have already lost your Maine LPN license to misconduct charges or surrendered it to avoid discipline, we may be able to help you get your license renewed or reinstated. The Maine Nurse Practice Act offers only limited express grounds for reinstatement, typically after a natural lapse of the two-year LPN license. However, our attorneys have the skill, experience, and relationships to approach Maine State Board of Nursing disciplinary officials advocating just grounds for discretionary reinstatement. Let our attorneys help you evaluate whether you may qualify for license reinstatement. Don't unnecessarily throw your LPN practice out the window simply out of fear or misunderstanding as to Maine State Board of Nursing disciplinary allegations or charges. Instead, let us help exhaust all avenues.
Grounds for Maine LPN Discipline
Section 2105-A of the Maine Nurse Practice Act authorizes the Maine State Board of Nursing to impose discipline on any one or more of several grounds. The grounds are numerous and broad enough to give disciplinary officials substantial discretion in what they allege to justify discipline. Following are some of the common grounds on which an LPN may face Maine State Board of Nursing disciplinary charges. We also show below how we may be able to defend your disciplinary charges.
Credential Fraud as Ground for Maine LPN Discipline
Section 2105-A of Maine's Nurse Practice Act includes “the practice of fraud or deceit in obtaining a license” as a first ground for discipline. Examples of credential fraud include sending an impersonator to take your nurse licensing exam, otherwise cheating on the exam, misstating your LPN degree or education on your license application, or hiding a disqualifying criminal conviction. We may be able to defend credential fraud charges by showing that your submissions were accurate, any errors were innocent and immaterial, any omissions were not of disqualifying information, and you did not cheat on the exam.
Substance Abuse as Ground for Maine LPN Discipline
Section 2105-A of Maine's Nurse Practice Act includes “misuse of alcohol, drugs or other substances” that endangers patients as a second ground for discipline. We may be able to defend these charges by showing that you did not abuse any alcohol or drugs, you had an innocent and unexpected prescription medication reaction, the complainant was mistaken as to your demeanor, or you promptly addressed your substance issue without endangering any patient. Beware the Maine State Board of Nursing's offer of enrollment in its drug diversion program. You may end up facing discipline for program non-compliance when you corrected your substance issue and could have done so on your own. Let us advise and represent you on any such offer.
Impairment as Ground for Maine LPN Discipline
Section 2105-A of Maine's Nurse Practice Act includes “professional diagnosis of a mental or physical condition” that endangers patients as a ground for discipline. Examples include a lifting restriction or a mental illness that could lead to a failure to follow physician orders. We may be able to defend these charges by showing that you had no impairment, your employer owed you an ADA accommodation, or any impairment was temporary and did not endanger patients.
Incompetence as Ground for Maine LPN Discipline
Section 2105-A of Maine's Nurse Practice Act includes “incompetence” in nursing practice as a ground for discipline. Examples include failing to follow physician orders, administering improper medication doses, or using the wrong methods for patient lifting, cleaning, or other care. We may be able to defend these charges by showing that you met all nursing standards or that your practice was under the reasonable instructions of a nursing supervisor.
Maine LPN Disciplinary Procedures
The Maine State Board of Nursing must respect your constitutional right to due process when pursuing charges that threaten to suspend or revoke your LPN license. Section 2105-A of the Maine Nurse Practice Act expressly Administrative Procedure Act for contested cases of discipline. The Administrative Procedure Act ensures that you have fair notice of the charges and a hearing before an impartial administrative law judge. Our attorneys have the knowledge, skill, and experience to strategically invoke those protective procedures on your behalf for your best disciplinary outcome. If you have already lost your hearing, then we can appeal your discipline through the administrative agencies and seek court review and reversal as the Administrative Procedure Act allows.
Premier Maine LPN Defense Services
The Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team is available across Maine, including in Portland, South Portland, Lewiston, Bangor, Auburn, Sanford, Buxton, South Paris, Windham, North Berwick, Waterboro, Scarborough, Oakland, and other cities and towns, to strategically and effectively defend your LPN license against Maine State Board of Nursing disciplinary charges. Our highly skilled attorneys have successfully defended hundreds of nurses and other professionals in Maine and across the nation in license proceedings. Call 888.535.3686 or chat with us now.
