As a nurse, you make life-and-death and critical care decisions in intense, unpredictable, and challenging situations. Throughout southern Alabama, the residents of Mobile, Daphne, Fairhope, Foley, and the surrounding communities depend on you. You provide important preventive and acute care to patients who are suffering, vulnerable, and frightened.
As medical costs climb and prescription drug shortages continue, you show up for your patients every day. Whether you work in a large medical center such as Mobile Infirmary Medical Center, Providence Hospital, Springhill Memorial Hospital, or USA Health University Hospital, or in an office, clinic, or community setting, you provide critical health care and treatment to community members.
Your education, training, and clinical experience may guide your medical and patient care decisions; however, the Alabama Nurse Practice Act (ANPA) and the Alabama Board of Nursing (the Board) also regulate your daily practice. When you are a nurse, deeply committed to the care of your patients, it can be devastating to learn a license complaint has been filed with the Board against you.
The Lento Law Firm defends nurses facing disciplinary investigations, hearings, and sanctions in southern Alabama. We know that nursing is both your calling and your career. A threat to your license is a threat to your livelihood and future. Our experienced attorneys can help you protect your Alabama nursing license.
If you work in Greater Mobile and face a license disciplinary investigation or hearing, the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team is ready to help. Regardless of the circumstances or allegations, our experienced attorneys can fight to protect you and your nursing license. To partner with the Lento Law Firm, call our offices at 888-535-3686 or contact us online.
The Alabama Board of Nursing and Nursing Practice in Greater Mobile
The Board is responsible for protecting the people of Alabama by enforcing the standards of nursing practice and education for over 100,000 registered nurses and nurse practitioners. As part of its mission, the Board oversees nurse licensing and has the authority to investigate and discipline nurses for violating the ANPA and its related rules.
The licensed nurses of Greater Mobile work hard in doctors' offices, clinics, and hospitals, including the Thomas Medical Center and South Baldwin Regional Medical Center. Whether you have chosen to work directly with a single medical facility or seek opportunities through nurse staffing agencies, such as ATC Healthcare Services of Mobile or Brightstar Care Greater Mobile/Baldwin County, your community needs you. During a nursing shortage, you provide critical patient care to adults and children across Alabama.
Common Allegations of Misconduct Made Against Nurses in Greater Mobile
Nurses devote years of their lives to studying and gaining the clinical experience necessary to care for patients and establish a professional reputation. For you and your colleagues, a nursing career is the foundation upon which you've built your financial security. When a disciplinary investigation or hearing threatens your license, you must take decisive action to defend yourself and your license by contacting the Lento Law Firm. Regardless of where you practice, our experienced attorneys can advocate on your behalf. We are committed to protecting your license.
The ANPA describes the types of misconduct that can lead to license disciplinary investigations and hearings. The grounds for disciplinary action are wide-ranging and often involve fraudulent conduct, criminal activities, the abuse or misuse of drugs or alcohol, or professional incompetence.
Common grounds for license discipline include:
- Practicing outside the scope of your nursing license.
- Falsifying or altering medical records.
- Abandoning or neglecting patients.
- Engaging in fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation in seeking employment, practicing, or seeking to practice.
- Being convicted of a felony.
- Being arrested for more than one alcohol or drug-related charge within five years.
- Committing a crime involving moral turpitude or immorality that would tend to bring reproach upon the profession.
- Failing to maintain professional boundaries with patients.
- Intentionally or negligently causing the physical, sexual, emotional, or verbal abuse of patients.
- Practicing, attempting to practice, or continuing to practice when unable to work with reasonable skill and safety due to impairment caused by alcohol or drugs.
- Willfully and repeatedly violating the provisions of the ANPA.
If you are a nurse accused of committing misconduct, you may feel isolated, embarrassed, or confused. Don't let your fear hinder your response. Let the Lento Law Firm challenge any complaint made against you. We are on your side.
Alabama State Board of Nursing Disciplinary Processes
The Board has developed a complex and adversarial license discipline process to investigate and adjudicate complaints against nurses in the Mobile area and throughout the state. The disciplinary process includes:
- A Complaint: In Alabama, anyone can file a complaint with the Board. Complaints are often filed by patients, former patients, family members of patients, co-workers, and colleagues.
- An Investigation: Special investigators review the complaint to determine if there is merit to the allegation. The investigator may interview the accused nurse and witnesses or examine preliminary evidence. If there are grounds to proceed with the disciplinary process, a formal written notice is issued to the accused licensee. The interview with the special investigator is likely your first chance to explain your circumstances. This is a critical opportunity to tell your side of the story. Importantly, any information you provide to the investigator could be used against you during the disciplinary proceedings. The Lento Law Firm can help you strategize and prepare for an investigative interview.
- Consent Order: When disciplinary proceedings commence, many accused nurses are offered the opportunity to sign a consent order. These agreements often involve the nurse accepting some level of responsibility and agreeing to a sanction for misconduct. In return, there is no hearing, and the risk of unexpectedly receiving a severe sanction is mitigated. Whether or not you should resolve a license complaint through a consent agreement depends on the facts of the case, the terms of the agreement, and your priorities. It is critically important that you understand the nuances of your agreement before you sign it. Never sign a settlement agreement without understanding all of its terms. The Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team can strategize with you about obtaining a consent order in your case. We can negotiate an agreement on your behalf, fighting to ensure the terms protect you and your best interests.
- Hearing: If there is no consent agreement, a formal administrative hearing will be held. The Board's attorney may present witnesses and other evidence to demonstrate that a violation has occurred. The accused nurse has the opportunity to defend themselves against the allegations by presenting evidence, calling witnesses, and giving their own testimony. If you are preparing for a disciplinary hearing, let the Lento Law Firm develop and implement a comprehensive license defense strategy for you. From evidence collection and presentation to the identification of exonerating witnesses, our experienced attorneys can provide guidance and assistance before, during, and after the hearing.
- Decision: If the Board determines that you have violated the ANPA, a sanction will be determined. Sanctions can range from a fine, reprimand, or probation to license suspension or revocation. If the Board determines that there was no violation, the case concludes with no further action.
In limited circumstances, an accused nurse may have grounds to appeal the Board's decision to revoke or suspend their nursing license.
As a nurse, you provide critical medical care in and around Greater Mobile, improving the health and wellness of people across Alabama. Your education and experience inform the difficult medical and patient care decisions you make. If you are accused of professional misconduct, the life and license you need to protect are your own. When you need to save yourself, your license, and your career, you want the experienced attorneys from the Lento Law Firm on your side.
The Impact of Disciplinary Sanctions
You want to work in your chosen profession in the Greater Mobile area. To do so, you need a license. A disciplinary investigation or hearing with the Board is a potential threat to your license and livelihood.
An adverse decision may lead to the suspension or revocation of your license and the end of your current employment. With a suspended or revoked license, your future employment opportunities may be limited.
Without the ability to advance in the career you chose and invested in, you may find that your financial security is in jeopardy.
Many nurses pay a tremendous personal cost if they are accused of misconduct and face disciplinary proceedings. An investigation and hearing are adversarial and stressful. The thought that your license may be at risk can generate catastrophic distress.
Furthermore, the stigma of losing your license can be isolating. Many nurses avoid coworkers, colleagues, and mentors and lose the support of their professional community. Accused licensees often withdraw from their friends and family. Too often, nurses experience anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges in the wake of a potentially career-ending disciplinary process.
From the hardship of losing your income to the impact on your physical and mental health, a disciplinary investigation, hearing, and sanction can disrupt every corner of your life.
At the Lento Law Firm, we protect nurses and their licenses. We can help bring order to the complexity and uncertainty of a disciplinary hearing and sanction. The sooner you add the Lento Law Firm to your team, the sooner we can help protect you and your nursing license.
If You Are a Nurse in Greater Mobile, the Lento Law Firm Can Help Defend Your License and Your Future
If you are the target of an investigation by the Board, it is time to focus on protecting yourself and your nursing license. Disciplinary investigations and hearings are adversarial. The Board is focused on investigations, enforcement actions, and sanctions. They are not concerned about protecting you, your license, or your career.
The earlier you assemble a defense team to protect you and your livelihood, the better. The Lento Law Firm can partner with you to challenge the allegations against you. We are ready to collaborate with you to create and execute a comprehensive license defense strategy in response to any disciplinary threat.
The Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team can defend you and your license before, during, and after a disciplinary investigation or hearing by:
- Ensuring the Board meets its notice and due process requirements.
- Preparing you for your interview with the investigator and to give testimony during a hearing.
- Launching our own investigation to identify mitigating evidence and exonerating witnesses.
- Negotiating a consent order on your behalf and ensuring you fully understand the terms of any agreement before signing.
- Preparing correspondence, statements, and any other required documents for submission to the Board, its investigator, or its hearing officer.
- Developing an appellate strategy, if necessary.
Let our Professional License Defense Team serve as your legal advisors, applying our knowledge of Alabama's law, regulations, and administrative procedures to advocate on your behalf during disciplinary investigations and administrative hearings. It is never too late to discuss your case with a member of the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team. Wherever you work in Greater Mobile, we can help.
Protecting Nurses in the Greater Mobile Area
We understand that as a nurse, your work is profoundly challenging and rewarding. You can make the right treatment decisions. You can provide excellent care. But you cannot control your patient's health, the progression of their disease, or the effectiveness of treatment. Despite these circumstances, you continue to show up for your patients. Now, let the Lento Law Firm show up for you.
If you are under investigation in Mobile, Daphne, Fairhope, or the surrounding area, the Lento Law Firm's Professional License Defense Team can partner with you to protect your license, your career, and your livelihood.
In Mobile and the surrounding area, we've helped nurses facing license investigations, hearings, and sanctions, and we can help you. Call the Lento Law Firm at 888-535-3686 or contact us online to discuss your case.
