Patients and healthcare clients rely on the compassion and expertise of licensed practical nurses (LPNs) in numerous circumstances. To build their foundation, an LPN spends thousands of dollars and years gaining the education required for intense medical training and becoming a licensed professional. Like other states, Montana has strict guidelines for LPN conduct on and off the job, how they interact with patients and coworkers, and remaining compliant with evolving educational requirements.
LPNs may believe once they become successful and have years of experience, they won't need to worry about the status of their license. However, first-time violations of any kind can lead to severe disciplinary action that threatens the ability to work. The procedures governing boards use to address breaches in their code of conduct, patient complaints, and other license violations are complex and can take years to resolve. Moreover, boards may not fully comprehend the licensee's perspective in the case and levy harsh sanctions, which can lead to the following:
- Reputation damage from restrictions or limitations on an LPN's practice.
- Putting your family under financial stress from significant civil penalties and restitution.
- Struggling to find employment after a license suspension or revocation.
Despite the challenges involved, licensees have the chance to retain trustworthy guidance and defense. The Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team is known nationwide for helping LPNs navigate complaint investigations, licensing board hearings, and protecting valuable credentials. Our team will lead negotiations with Montana authorities and ensure nurses are treated fairly throughout the grievance process. Call the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team at 888-535-3686 now or submit your details online, and we will contact you.
Montana Board of Nursing Licensing Standards
Remaining in good standing with the state licensing board requires LPNs to follow the code of conduct. The Montana Board of Nursing (MTBON) creates and enforces the guidelines for professional nurse conduct, as well as provisions from the Nurse Practice Act (NPA).
Under the act, LPNs have two primary responsibilities: properly applying the nursing process and upholding duties as a member of a healthcare team. There are many NPA and state rule violations for which the board may levy disciplinary action, such as breaching nursing duties, unprofessional conduct with superiors, and incompetency when handling patients. Below are a few other are common reasons:
- Any behavior that potentially exposes a patient to unnecessary risk or harm.
- Providing false or misleading personal or patient records.
- Physical, verbal, or sexual abuse, exploitation, or neglect of patients, patient family members, supervisors, or coworkers.
- Providing patient care or on the job while intoxicated, including being flagged positive during a drug screening without valid prescriptions.
- Theft or any resource misappropriation from employers.
- Drug diversion for distribution, sale, use, or any unauthorized reason.
- Failing to keep accurate medication distribution records.
- Criminal arrest, charges, or convictions.
Among the matters above, LPNs can get into trouble for misbehavior or license breaches outside of their position at a hospital or medical facility. For instance, LPNs are public-facing professionals and must maintain an acceptable public image while they're licensed to work. Therefore, posting inappropriate pictures on social media, failing to pay personal property taxes, noncompliance with court-ordered alimony or child support, and others can engulf a licensee in disciplinary problems.
Yet, there are issues the MTBON won't adjudicate. The board will not get involved in disagreements between coworkers, issues not related to the NPA, and others outside the jurisdiction given by the state legislature. Allegations of rule violations and misconduct won't normally come from the board but from Montana's complaint system.
Complaint Process and Investigations
Anyone can submit a complaint to MTBON's online complaint system or by sending documents and other pertinent information to the board's headquarters in Helena. Complaints are kept confidential, meaning an LPN won't know the person who lodged them. The accuser could be the following:
- Patients
- Family members of patients
- Coworkers
- Supervisors
- Community group members
- Anyone with a grievance against an LPN
When the MTBON receives a complaint, the board makes an initial determination as to whether the subject falls under its jurisdiction. If the allegations constitute a violation of the NPA or breach of supplementary Montana nursing regulations, the board may gather additional information, such as a written response from the accuser, witness interviews, or further document collection. Depending on the board's caseload and the nature of a case, the review and investigation may take several months or longer to complete. Critically, the board isn't required to notify the LPN who is the subject of the complaint yet.
After the facts have been gathered, the MTBON may include an attorney from the state Department of Labor and Industry (DLI), who reserves administrative authority over Montana's licensed professionals. The board will convene a Screening Panel, which may include a DLI attorney to review the investigation reports.
The panel may dismiss the case if it decides there is no violation or that formal disciplinary action is unwarranted. In some circumstances, the board may invoke a summary suspension against an LPN. This is a period of up to 90 days when a license is suspended following an allegation or complaint demonstrating clear and immediate danger to public health and safety. However, if the panel finds reasonable cause for a violation that warrants disciplinary action, the DLI attorney sends a written Notice of Proposed Board Action and Opportunity for Hearing to the licensee that summarizes the alleged facts and violations of law.
Montana LPN Disciplinary Process
The panel can take steps toward resolving the matter informally without an official hearing. Licensees may admit responsibility for the allegations and submit to discipline through a stipulated agreement, such as:
- Censure: an expression of official disapproval that can be imposed in combination with other types of disciplinary sanctions.
- Letter of reprimand: an official record of board disapproval of the licensee's conduct.
- Limitations of practice: restraints on the scope of an LPN's practice until fulfilling requirements specified by the board to rehabilitate prior actions or behaviors.
- Probation: licensees must complete remedial requirements issued by the board, often checking in with them multiple times during the disciplinary period, and can also be met with practice conditions.
- License suspension: credentials and authorization to practice are stripped for a period of time, typically up to five years.
- License revocation: terminating an LPN's credentials, typically without the opportunity to reapply in the future.
While minor discipline may not change the standing of an individual's license, even first-time written reprimands are part of an LPN's record and can quickly affect other aspects of professional life. In most states, disciplinary action taken on a professional license can lead to disciplinary action elsewhere.
Regardless, LPNs should never accept discipline without a formal hearing. Licensees deserve a chance to defend themselves against allegations, face their accusers, and retain their right to practice. Fortunately, LPNs can request a contested case hearing before an impartial hearing officer.
Montana Contested Case Hearings
LPNs challenging the panel's decision and the sanctions must submit a request to the Hearings Examiner from DLI's Office of Administrative Hearings. The objective of the Hearings Examiner will be to decide whether the panel substantiated the NPA or board violation and whether the actions merit discipline.
The Hearings Examiner may hold one or more settlement conferences to discuss procedural matters and explore the possibility of an agreement between the licensee and panel representatives. If neither can agree on terms, a hearing is conducted that allows the following:
- Both parties to present evidence in favor of or against the charges.
- Presenting the Hearing Examiner with oral testimony.
- The ability to have a legal professional argue on their behalf.
At the conclusion of the case, the Hearing Examiner will render a decision, affirming, modifying, or rejecting the panel's determination and issuing a recommended order. Afterward, the Adjudication Panel—which may be the same members as the Screening Panel—schedule an open meeting to decide whether to adopt a new stipulation agreement, the original order, or to accept or modify the Hearing Examiner's conclusion and recommended order.
The panel's final order may include punishments ranging from reprimands and fines to practice restrictions and license revocation. Although the final order is the last step in the MTBON's grievance process, it isn't an LPNs last chance for defense. Licensees can petition the state appeals court for redress, but preserving your ability to practice doesn't begin in the appeals process, but when you're aware of a complaint against you. If you don't retain professional help early in the process, the consequences are dire.
Consequences for Montana LPNs
For LPNs enduring discipline from the MTBON, the consequences go beyond their ability to practice in Montana. Nearly three dozen BONs are signatories of the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC), which allows licensed healthcare workers an easy pathway to work in other states without needing additional licensing requirements. Unfortunately for sanctioned LPNs, the multi-state license recognition program means that once a nurse has the standing of their credentials altered—placed on probation, suspended, or revoked—all other NLC-compliant BONs are made aware through a nationwide database.
The National Council of State Boards of Nursing also has a nationwide database known as Nursys, which provides a look into a licensee's disciplinary history. The system covers states that don't conform to the NLC; therefore, you won't be able to work as an LPN until you're able to be relicensed, which can be contingent on the board's final order. Furthermore, if a Montana LPN also has another professional license (public accountancy, teaching, dentistry, auctioneer, appraiser, etc.), discipline can affect the standing of those.
Although each matter of misconduct is different, one thing remains the same: you have the opportunity to defend your ability to practice. Don't wait until Montana authorities hand down discipline; begin your road toward restoration now.
We Serve LPNs Employed by Medical Providers Throughout Montana
The Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team is well known in Montana and across the country for negotiating with state licensing boards and governing authorities to help LPNs keep their credentials. No matter the misconduct or complaints alleged against you, we serve all LPNs practicing in Montana, and our team is familiar with prominent employers in the state's medical sector, including but not limited to the following:
- Advanced Care Hospital of Montana (Billings)
- Barrett Hospital and Healthcare (Dillon)
- Providence St. Patrick Hospital (Missoula)
- Beartooth Billings Clinic (Red Lodge)
- Benefis Teton Medical Center (Choteau)
- Bitterroot Health-Daly Hospital (Hamilton)
- Bozeman Health Deaconess Hospital (Bozeman)
- Central Montana Medical Center (Lewistown)
- Clark Fork Valley Hospital (Plains)
- Crow-Northern Cheyenne Hospital (Crow Agency)
- Dahl Memorial Healthcare Association (Ekalaka)
- Daniels Memorial Healthcare Center (Scobey)
- Fallon Medical Complex (Baker)
- Fort Belknap Hospital (Harlem)
- Fort Harrison VA Medical Center (Fort Harrison)
- Garfield County Health Canter (Jordan)
- Great Falls Hospital (Great Falls)
- Intermountain Health Holy Rosary Hospital (Miles City)
- Intermountain Health St. James Hospital (Butte)
- Livingston Healthcare (Livingston)
- Logan Health (Kalispell)
- Madison Valley Medical Center (Ennis)
- Mineral Community Hospital (Superior)
- Northern Montana Hospital (Havre)
- Pioneer Medical Center (Big Timber)
- Prairie County Hospital (Poplar)
- Rehabilitation Hospital of Montana (Billings)
- Ruby Valley Hospital (Sheridan)
- Shodair Children's Hospital (Helena)
- Stillwater Billings Clinic (Columbus)
- Trinity Hospital (Wolf Point)
- Wheatland Memorial Healthcare (Harlowton)
Those listed above are just a few examples of LPN employers in Montana. Even if your healthcare facility isn't listed above, we can provide support, guidance, and representation for MTBON matters and disciplinary proceedings no matter where you are in the state.
Contact the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team
Defending your Montana LPN license is our priority. While some may think an attorney is too intense of an option to exercise in protecting your license, think again. LPNs have tens of thousands of dollars in education, years of intense clinical training, and countless future medical opportunities at stake. You don't need a local courtroom lawyer who uses aggression to fuel their practice; your credentials require a delicate touch and clear knowledge of the state's disciplinary process for your best outcome.
The Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team stands ready to help Montana LPNs defend against sanctions threatening their livelihood and long-lasting careers. There's no reason to go through the process alone when you can count on our experience and trustworthiness. Call us at 888-535-3686 today to learn how we will protect your Montana LPN license, or reach out to us online now.
