Healthcare providers are expected to be beacons of morality all of the time. But the pressures of the job can weigh on you—long hours, lack of career advancement, or being unable to help patients in the way you want to. It adds up. To maintain your medical license, you have to follow a lot of rules. If you don't, you could wind up losing your license or, worse, facing jail time.

A Miami Nurse Gets Caught Smuggling Drugs into a Prison

Ruben Montanez-Mirabal, a nurse who worked at the Federal Detention Center in Miami, was caught smuggling drug-soaked papers into the prison. He recently admitted in a plea agreement that he delivered about 140 papers laced with a synthetic cannabis substance to inmates. Montanez-Mirabal said he received as much as $1,500 for a single drug-soaked paper, and he knew that the inmates he sold them to were reselling them to other prisoners.

In exchange for smuggling in contraband, Montanez-Mirabal was allowed to use luxury sports cars owned by some of the prisoners he delivered to. After an FBI investigation, the former prison nurse was charged and pled guilty. He was sentenced to six years in prison.

Risks for Healthcare Providers Who Work in Prisons

There aren't many details regarding the circumstances of Montanez-Mirabal's situation, just the facts. What's not reported is the relationships he had with his patients at the prison or the pressures he may have faced working in a federal detention center. Reports also don't delve into his home life or family situation and whether he may have felt like he needed extra cash to support himself or his family.

What Montanez-Mirabal did was wrong and a crime. But when it comes to misconduct by healthcare providers, the situation is rarely this straightforward. There are often a lot of factors to consider when deciding if they should lose their medical license or not.

How to Handle Misconduct Allegations as a Nurse

As a nurse or medical professional, you have to be extremely cautious about misconduct allegations. One misstep could mean losing your license, which means losing your livelihood. As soon as you start to hear whispers of a misconduct or ethics allegation against you, you should spring into action. You should contact a Professional License Defense Attorney at the Lento Law Firm.

What can a Professional License Defense Team do to help? We can make sure your rights get protected and that the licensure board in your state doesn't trample all over you. We can help keep the board from silencing you or making an example of you and ensure you receive due process. A Professional License Defense legal team can negotiate with the board on your behalf, help gather evidence in your favor, and stand as an emphatic guide as you go through the disciplinary process.

Call 888-535-3686 to set up an appointment with the Lento Law Firm, or contact us online.