As a licensed nurse, you know well the huge commitment you made to complete your nursing education, obtain your nursing license, and enter the healthcare field as an employed nurse. You also know the rewards of nursing, personal, professional, and financial. Yet if you face state nursing board disciplinary charges alleging your unethical conduct outside of work, then your nursing license, employment, and career are at risk of loss. Do not underestimate the value of your nursing career or the risk that disciplinary charges present to that value. Retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team to preserve and protect your career and investment. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now.
Nursing Board Character and Fitness Requirements
State nursing practice acts routinely require state nursing boards to license only those nurses who can demonstrate that they have good moral character and can meet the standards of professional conduct. To gain your nursing license, you had to show your nursing education, passage of the National Council Licensure Exam (NCLEX), and practical experience. But you also had to prove your good moral character, typically including a criminal history check, including your ability to constrain your conduct to high professional standards. The Missouri Nurse Practice Act is an example, expressly providing in its Section 335.046 that a candidate for licensure must have “good moral character.” Acting under the Missouri Nurse Practice Act's authority, the Missouri State Board of Nursing adopted a rule requiring license applicants to submit to a criminal conviction background check, to carry out that good moral character requirement. These provisions are ubiquitous.
The Relevance of Outside Unethical Conduct
You may legitimately wonder why your conduct outside of work should have anything to do with your nursing practice and license. Yet the good moral character requirement ensures that the character and conduct of nurses, even conduct entirely outside of their nursing practice, does not reflect negatively on the nursing profession, undermining patient and public trust in the nursing profession.
If, for instance, the nurse who cared for you or your beloved family member was basically competent in nursing skills but, outside of nursing, had robbery, assault, drug, or sex crime convictions, or huge income tax liabilities related to tax fraud or evasion, or multiple drunk driving convictions endangering or injuring others on the highway, you could have legitimate concern that the nurse had little or no regard for the law or the safety or interest of others. You might worry about that nurse. Your worry might cause you to refuse to rely on nursing care when you or your family member needs the care. Unethical nurse conduct outside of work can undermine confidence in nursing care and the nursing profession. Don't question the relevance. Instead, let us present your best defense to the disciplinary charges.
Examples of Outside Unethical Conduct
Examples of outside unethical conduct should indeed help you appreciate the potential impact of that conduct on confidence in your nursing character, commitment, and willingness to exercise your skills for patient benefit. Obviously, unethical conduct in your nursing practice, like stealing prescription medication, practicing while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or disrespecting and disobeying attending physicians and supervising nurses, could harm your patients and your colleagues, facility, and employer. But the following misconduct outside of work, beginning with the examples just mentioned above, could indicate that you might bring similar misconduct into the workplace:
- drunk or reckless driving arrest and conviction, especially when injuring or endangering others;
- assault, battery, or domestic or dating violence arrest and conviction;
- arrest and conviction for robbery, theft, vandalism, arson, burglary, or other serious property crimes;
- criminal tax fraud or evasion conviction or administrative determination of substantial unpaid tax obligations with fines and penalty interest;
- civil lawsuits alleging damages from assault, battery, sexual assault, invasion of privacy, or other intentional and endangering or injurious wrongs;
- family court proceedings alleging spousal abuse, child abuse or neglect, and other unfitness to maintain child custody or unsupervised child visitation;
- criminal charges or civil infractions for, or public reports of, public intoxication, drunk and disorderly behavior, or resisting arrest;
- public reports or private complaints of endangering or disruptive civil disobedience, such as blocking roads or buildings, vandalism, and arson;
- volatile or controversial sexual, romantic, or other intimate or business relationships outside of the workplace with patients, former patients, patients' family members, or workplace colleagues; and
- criminal charges or civil complaints for shoplifting or other retail fraud, insufficient check fraud, identity theft, and other fraudulent practices.
Discovery of Outside Unethical Conduct
You may wonder how your patients, nursing employer, and state nursing board disciplinary officials would discover your alleged outside unethical conduct. The above examples suggest how news of outside ethical conduct can reach the nursing workplace and its regulators. Any filing of criminal charges or civil lawsuits could bring workplace scrutiny. Criminal and civil filings in court are generally public records unless specially sealed in rare cases. While few people actually search court records, news media and commercial services routinely circulate lists of filings and report on cases of special public interest. Filings against a licensed nurse may be just the sort of case of public interest. Prosecutors, court clerks, judges, witnesses, and others involved in court proceedings also talk, spreading the news.
The social, community, and neighborhood grapevine can also quickly spread the news of a nurse's controversial, illegal, endangering, embarrassing, or disruptive conduct outside of work. Patients and their family members have their own grapevine connections. They may well hear of your outside activities, whether good or bad. Your professional colleagues also circulate through the community, learning of the exploits of other professionals in their network. Professionals know the reputation and activities of other members of their professional community. Word spreads. Don't expect to hide your ethical issues from your employer, colleagues, patients, and state nursing board officials if word is already spreading. Instead, retain us to help you manage the issue's impact on your nursing license and employment, including preparing to defend disciplinary charges.
Reporters of Outside Unethical Conduct
Members of your professional community may also have an affirmative duty to report certain suspected outside unethical conduct. States routinely mandate nurses, among other professionals like doctors, teachers, social workers, and clergy, to report suspected child abuse or neglect and sometimes also elder abuse. Virginia Code Section 63.2-1509 is an example, expressly requiring nurses, doctors, and other professionals to report suspected child abuse. However, the duty to report a nursing colleague's misconduct is, in some states, much broader. Section 40-33-110 of South Carolina's Nurse Practice Act, for instance, makes it grounds for discipline to “fail to report incompetent or unprofessional practice of a licensed nurse to the appropriate authorities, including the board,” when discovered. While conduct outside of work may not be incompetent practice, it may indicate professional unfitness. Some nurses and other healthcare professionals may err on the side of caution, reporting any nurse whom they believe may be unfit, whether for workplace issues or conduct outside the workplace.
In sum, anyone may report your alleged outside misconduct to your state nursing board's disciplinary officials. Your state nursing board very likely maintains a complaint hotline and online opportunity to report suspected nurse misconduct, even anonymously. Some state nursing boards make a point of encouraging or requiring healthcare facilities to post or otherwise share notice of those complaint portals. Word of your outside unethical conduct may well reach state nursing board officials, especially if it has already reached your workplace, where it has already raised concerns. Let us help you head off disciplinary charges, if possible, and if you already face such charges, then help you defend and defeat those charges.
Nursing Board Authority to Discipline for Misconduct
State nursing practice acts routinely authorize state nursing boards to discipline nurses for professional unfitness or misconduct. State nursing boards don't just have the authority to issue a license to qualified nurses. They also have the authority to suspend, revoke, or otherwise discipline an issued license. Section 335.066 of Missouri's Nurse Practice Act is an example, authorizing the Missouri State Board of Nursing to discipline a licensed nurse on a long list of disciplinary grounds, right up to license suspension or revocation. Don't doubt your state nursing board's authority to discipline your license. Instead, retain us to help you defend the disciplinary charges. A charge is not the same as a finding of misconduct. Your state nursing board may expect you to come forward with an explanation for the allegations of outside unethical conduct. Let us help you do so.
Disciplinary Grounds Reaching Unethical Conduct
State nursing practice acts define disciplinary grounds broadly enough to reach outside unethical conduct. You've already seen above that state nursing boards must license only those nurses who have the good moral character to meet professional standards. The disciplinary grounds that state nursing practice acts generally list extend those good character requirements into practice. If your outside unethical conduct suggests that you've lost your good character, your state nursing board will likely have the disciplinary grounds to act to suspend or revoke your license.
Section 54.1-3007 of the Virginia Nursing Practice Act is an example, listing both “unprofessional conduct” and “[c]onviction of any felony or any misdemeanor involving moral turpitude” as grounds for discipline. Section 567.8 of Oklahoma's Nurse Practice Act is another example. The statute requires the Oklahoma Board of Nursing to discipline a nurse who “[e]xhibits through a pattern of practice or other behavior actual or potential inability to practice nursing with sufficient knowledge or reasonable skills and safety” due to a wide range of personal causes. State nursing board officials will find the authority somewhere within the long list of disciplinary grounds, including catch-all professionalism and fitness provisions. Let us help you fight the charges.
Disciplinary Sanctions for Outside Unethical Conduct
If your state nursing board finds that you committed outside unethical conduct reflecting unprofessionalism, unfitness, or patient endangerment, state nursing board disciplinary officials will have the discretion to impose a broad range of license sanctions. State nursing practice acts routinely authorize license suspension and revocation for violations of state nursing board rules and standards. State nursing practice acts also often authorize lesser, alternative, or additional sanctions, including things like reprimands, probation, monitoring, license limitations, counseling, mental or physical evaluation, restitution, and remedial education or training. Section 40-33-110 of South Carolina's Nurse Practice Act is an example, authorizing the state nursing board to “cancel, fine, suspend, revoke, issue a public reprimand or a private reprimand, or restrict, including probation or other reasonable action such as requiring additional education and training,” the license of a nurse found to have committed misconduct.
The breadth of potential sanctions may appear daunting. But we may be able to turn in your favor the discretion of state nursing board officials to impose a range of sanctions. If the only options were license suspension or revocation, our defense of your disciplinary charges would be an all-or-nothing proposition. However, board sanction discretion allows us to advocate and negotiate for remedial relief over punitive sanctions. Your goal should be to preserve your license, practice, employment, and reputation. Remedial education or training, as one favorable option, should not disturb those interests and could even promote them. Let us make a case to mitigate any sanction if you find yourself unable to contest the fact of the outside unethical conduct that the state nursing board alleges. Just because something happened outside of work does not mean that a severe sanction must follow. We may be able to show the state board that you are no threat to patient safety, no shame on the profession, and instead a skilled and valuable professional providing critical and competent nursing care.
License Impact of Outside Unethical Conduct Charges
The above discussion should make clear that outside unethical conduct disciplinary charges could have a significant impact on your nursing license. Your first thought, when the issue arose, might have been that your state nursing board is unlikely to impose severe discipline for anything occurring outside your nursing workplace. We would certainly advocate that approach. Misconduct in the workplace that directly injures or endangers patients would clearly appear to be a much greater concern and much more deserving of a serious license sanction such as suspension. But you've seen above that your state nursing board very likely has the disciplinary authority to impose license suspension and revocation for outside unethical conduct in appropriate cases, when proving the charge.
If your state nursing board does find that you committed outside unethical conduct and decides to impose discipline, that discipline could have significant impacts. Of course, a license suspension means interruption of your nursing practice because you cannot practice without the license. You may lose your nursing employment unless your employer has non-practice, administrative work for you to do and is willing to reassign you. But if you suffer any discipline, even as little as a reprimand or probation, your employer may decide to terminate your employment to avoid liability risks and preserve its reputation, or for management, morale, or other reasons. If you lose your job, you could face a severe financial loss affecting you and your family in broader and deeper ways. Don't let your career fail due to outside unethical conduct disciplinary charges. Let us help you obtain the best possible disciplinary outcome.
Defenses to Outside Unethical Conduct Charges
Your successful defense may well be possible, with our strategic, sensitive, and effective representation. You may, for instance, have not committed the outside unethical conduct that the state nursing board alleges. Board disciplinary officials may have been mistaken. Others who reported your alleged misconduct may have misidentified you or misunderstood your actions. If you did face criminal charges or civil complaints that you acted unethically, you may have already beaten those charges and defeated those complaints, or you may be on your way to doing so. We can show disciplinary officials that you are addressing those outside issues with appropriate criminal defense attorney representation or other assistance, all or some of which we may be able to provide, depending on the nature of your outside ethical issues.
If, instead, you did commit the alleged outside unethical acts, we may be able to show that those acts were not as endangering, dishonest, or reprehensible as they might initially appear or that you had a reason, rationale, justification, or excuse for the conduct that makes it no public shame and no threat to patients. If, for instance, your outside issues were financial, we may be able to show that the cause was due to circumstances beyond your control, such as identity theft, fire loss, or incurred expenses for the critical medical care of a dependent close family member. We may also be able to make a strong case in mitigation of any sanction, including that you have had no other disciplinary complaints or issues and have great skills and commitment that you regularly apply for the great benefit of your satisfied patients and employers. Let us help defend your outside unethical conduct disciplinary charges.
Protective Procedures Against Misconduct Charges
Your state nursing practice act will give us the opportunity to raise and effectively advocate your defenses to outside unethical conduct disciplinary charges. You have a constitutional due process right against your state nursing board's arbitrary and capricious deprivation of your property and liberty interest in your nursing license and practice. Your state nursing practice act will recognize that right by promising protective procedures. Section 335.066 of Missouri's Nurse Practice Act is an example, promising that nurses facing disciplinary charges will have a right to a fair hearing under the state laws establishing an Administrative Hearing Commission. State nursing practice acts commonly make such references to the state's administrative procedure act or set out the due process protections in the disciplinary statutes themselves.
Those administrative procedures must provide you with fair notice of the disciplinary charges against you, which in this case would be a description of exactly what outside unethical conduct the state nursing board alleges to constitute a danger to patients or embarrassment to the profession. Those administrative procedures must also provide you with a fair hearing before an impartial decision maker, to whom we can present your evidence. We can also cross-examine adverse witnesses and challenge the state nursing board's incriminating evidence. If you have already lost your hearing, we may be able to appeal to a higher administrative official or panel, or to a state civil court. We may also be able to negotiate alternative special relief through a general counsel or outside retained counsel, if you have already lost appeals. Let us help you exhaust potential remedies until you get the relief you need.
The Role of License Defense Counsel
Do not retain unqualified criminal defense counsel for your state nursing board disciplinary proceeding. Discipline proceedings are administrative in nature, not court proceedings. The laws, rules, customs, and procedures all differ. Our license defense attorneys know the law, procedures, and strategies necessary to achieve your best possible outcome. We know, for instance, the remedial measures that state nursing board officials are most likely to accept in negotiations to favorably resolve and dismiss disciplinary charges. With your approval, we may be able to conduct an early conciliation conference at which we propose those remedial measures, that you can readily perform to retain your license. Let us put our skills and experience to your defense. Your nursing license and career are worth it.
Premier Attorney License Defense Available
If you face state nursing board disciplinary charges alleging your unethical conduct outside of work, retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team to help you defend and defeat those charges. Our highly qualified attorneys have helped hundreds of nurses and other healthcare professionals successfully resolve their licensing issues relating to unethical conduct or other issues. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now to protect your nursing license and preserve your rewarding nursing practice.
