Nurses Face Serious Consequences for Elder Abuse in the Course of a Robbery
A hospital nurse in Atlanta caught stealing from her elderly patients and causing one of them physical injuries in the process has been indicted on charges of theft and elder abuse. In addition to losing her job and facing a possible prison sentence, her state-issued professional license now registers as inactive.
Details about the theft and injury will emerge when the criminal case goes to trial. Should the nurse, Stephanie Phillips-Siwiec, decide to reapply for her license, the Georgia licensing board will also want a full picture of the allegations against her. Ms. Phillips-Siwiec will need to respond judiciously to investigators’ questions, carefully follow the board’s instructions throughout the process, and make sure she presents her side of the story clearly and compellingly.
The Professional License Defense Team at the LLF National Law Firm can help any nurse who’s at risk of losing their license or working on reactivating it, regardless of where they live or their employment situation. Call us today at 888-535-3686 or send us a message online.
Adding Injury to Insult
Ms. Phillips-Siwiec is accused of stealing jewelry from a number of elderly patients at Wellstar North Fulton Medical Center. The charge of elder abuse comes from one incident where, allegedly, she dislocated the finger of one of her victims as she forcibly removed the woman’s wedding rings. The woman’s daughter recounts her mother’s distress over the loss, made all the more poignant given her dementia: she worries her husband will be upset with her for “losing” them, even though he died several years ago.
A Special Kind of Professional Misconduct
Nurses can lose their license for myriad reasons. They might steal drugs from their employer, make egregious mistakes that harm patients, violate rules about where and how they can practice — the list goes on. But elder abuse rises above the rest for state licensing boards, who uniformly regard it with horror and alarm.
For this reason, nurses found by their state boards to have committed elder abuse face harsh, even career-ending, sanctions. From lightest to most consequential, these can include:
- A formal reprimand
- Probation, with or without mandatory additional training
- Fines and/or a report in a nationwide database (Nursys, for example)
- Suspension of the license
- Permanent license revocation
Because most states share data on nursing professionals, any of these disciplinary measures are likely to follow the nurse anywhere they go, undermining their ability to get a new license in another state.
Elder Abuse Cases Aren’t Always What They Seem
Licensing rules often define “elder abuse” far more broadly than criminal statutes do. For a licensing board, handling a patient too roughly (even if the patient, too, is being rough) can count as abuse, as can speaking to them unkindly or saying things perceived as threatening. Even straightforward medication errors can be construed by patients’ families as willful abuse.
Nurses facing elder abuse allegations need a strong defense to preserve both their license and their reputation. The LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team works with nurses practicing in every setting, from home healthcare to emergency wards, in every state, helping them set the record straight. If you’re accused of abusing your elderly patients,send us a message online to tell us about your case or call us directly at 888-535-3686.