Licensed practical and vocational nurses play crucial roles in the lives of people who are dealing with serious medical problems. This is especially true in Utah, where LPNs and LVNs are in short supply compared to its population. Even so, state authorities will not hesitate to suspend or revoke your licensure if they think there's a good reason.
If state authorities are threatening your license, you've come to the right place. The Lento Law Firm is experienced in helping Utah's LPNs and LVNs retain their licenses and progress in rewarding career paths. To get help defending your license, call the Lento Law Firm at 888.535.3686 or fill out this contact form and set up a consultation.
Legal Authorities Over Professional LPNs and LVNs in Utah
First, you should know what governing body has authority over your license. This is the department with which you will be communicating for the duration of the disciplinary process. You must understand what it can do and how it works to encourage the best possible outcome.
In your case, expect to deal with the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing (DOPL), overseen by the Utah Department of Commerce. The Utah State Board of Nursing is under the DOPL. In accordance with the Utah Administrative Procedures Act (UAPA), the DOPL may address issues and complaints either “formally” or “informally.”
Informal Measures
If the DOPL opts to handle a complaint informally, the goal is usually to avoid a lengthy and complex legal procedure, so these measures are typically quick and simple. Used commonly for minor issues or first offenses, they include the following.
Verbal Warnings
A verbal warning is usually just a conversation with a superior about the complaint in question or about mistakes and problematic behavior in general. Though technically considered non-disciplinary, you should consider them disciplinary for all intents and purposes. They give you a chance to avoid additional sanctions and stricter measures.
Letters of Concern
Like verbal warnings, letters of concern are not truly disciplinary, but they are more serious. They are documented evidence of concerns regarding your ethics and abilities. Although you're allowed an opportunity to respond with your side of the story, they could damage your case if the complaint escalates or if more are filed against you.
Administrative Citations
Sometimes, the DOPL decides that an offense is best fixed with a fine or cease-and-desist order. In that case, they will issue an administrative citation. You can deny wrongdoing or request a pre-citation hearing conference. However, if you don't want to risk a deeper investigation and thorough disciplinary hearing, then your best option is to pay the fine and/or obey the cease-and-desist order.
Informal Adjudicate Proceedings
The term “adjudicative proceedings” may not sound informal, but it simply refers to hearings with a judge from the Department of Commerce. Since they are originated by administrative citations, another informal measure, these proceedings are usually reserved for clear and uncomplicated cases with easy solutions.
Formal Measures
More serious or repeated offenses may warrant formal disciplinary measures. Utah's DOPL only has two.
Stipulated Agreements
Basically, a stipulated agreement is a written document showing that you and all other pertinent parties have accepted the outcome of the case and how to handle your license. The agreement may include requirements and conditions like probation, suspension, continuing education, among others.
Formal Adjudicative Proceeding
This type of proceeding tends to be the most strenuous and severe measure. It may involve going up against the nursing board and DOPL case to a civil court, reviewing facts, contexts, evidence, and testimonies to determine your guilt and consequences. An administrative judge from the Utah Department of Commerce would oversee the case.
What to Expect from the Adjudication or Hearing Process
Think of an adjudication or hearing as a small trial. It contains many of the same elements normally present in a criminal or civil court. The order and amount of these elements may vary by case, but generally, you'll see the following from both sides:
- Testimonies and accounts
- Presentation of evidence
- Arguments about relevant laws and how they apply
- Consideration of context and circumstances
Knowing that the process is so similar to a criminal or civil trial, make sure to retain a lawyer from the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team to advocate for you.
What Happens If You're Found Guilty of Misconduct?
Perhaps you're truly at fault for the complaint submitted against you. If the DOPL doesn't dismiss the case despite your culpability, you can expect one of several possible scenarios.
Fines
If you already received an administrative citation with a fine but opted not to pay it, the nursing board could force you to pay one anyway after a disciplinary hearing. Depending on the misconduct, the fine could be anywhere from four to five figures.
Probation
As mentioned earlier, probation is one possible condition of a stipulation agreement. It allows you to keep your license as long as you agree to a program aimed at improving your behavior. As long as you fulfill a set of conditions within a specified time frame, your license will remain valid.
Continuing Education
Just as in other states, Utah's LPNs and LVNs must take continuing education courses to retain their licenses. However, a disciplinary hearing could demand that you take extra classes on top of the minimum required amount.
Restricted or Limited Practice
You might be able to keep working as an LPN or LVN but with limitations and restrictions on your duties and abilities. For example, perhaps you could provide basic patient care, like cleaning or feeding, but you would no longer have access to medications. The specific conditions would depend on the nature of your misconduct.
Suspension
The nursing board may conclude that you need to stop practicing as an LPN or LVN altogether for a predetermined period of time. If so, they will suspend your license, making it invalid until the period ends. By then, you may have to meet additional conditions to prove that you're ready to return to work.
Revocation
For the gravest offenses, the Utah Board of Nursing and DOPL may choose to revoke your license entirely. You could no longer legally work as an LPN or LVN anywhere in the state. Depending on the circumstances, you may be able to petition for reinstatement, but the record would make you a less attractive hiring choice for future employers.
Grounds for Sanctions Against LPNs and LVNs in Utah
Are you unsure about what could get you into enough trouble that you would face the possibility of losing your license? The Utah state code has described numerous actions that would warrant sanctions. Here is a summary.
Gross Incompetence or Negligence
In Utah, LPNs and LVNs are expected to meet a patient's every reasonable need while preserving their dignity, no matter their identity or background. You must also keep their reports accurate and updated to aid their progress. If your patients suffer because you're shirking your duties, you may have to answer to sanctions.
Violating Scope of Practice
On the other side of that coin, perhaps you're doing more than you should. Certain duties—like interpreting lab results, administering medications, forming care plans, and delegating responsibilities to other LPNS and LVNs—are for registered nurses (RNs) to perform. You could get in trouble for stepping outside your scope to do things you were not trained to do.
Misrepresentation
To reiterate, an LVN and LPN are not the same as an RN. Nevertheless, many of their duties overlap or connect to each other, so patients could mistake you for an RN. If you allow this misperception, or if you deliberately present yourself as an RN, you may be considered too dishonest for your real job.
Failure to Protect Information
Your patients must trust you with personal and sensitive information about themselves in order to receive the treatment that they need. If you actively or passively break that trust, allowing their information to get into the wrong hands, you'll be held accountable.
Disrespect of Boundaries
Every relationship you have in the workplace should be professional and impartial, particularly with patients. You shouldn't request or accept gifts, bribes, or anything else from them. Any interactions not focused specifically on their treatment could be unlawful.
Fraud
The process of becoming an LVN or LPN in Utah is meant to guarantee competence and integrity. If you've falsified your education or employment history to trick your way into a job, your license will likely be considered invalid.
Theft
Thievery is already a serious crime, but it's even more egregious when committed against the vulnerable. Your patients come to you because they are in need; stealing from them is sure to get you sanctioned. The same is true if you take supplies from your workplace for personal use.
Substance Abuse or Misuse
Abusing illegal drugs on the job is dangerous for you, the patients, and other employees, as they may cause you to make terrible mistakes. You would also endanger everyone by overusing medications or applying them for unintended purposes. These errors may put your reliability into question.
Physical or Verbal Abuse
You're supposed to help patients physically, mentally, and emotionally. The job is challenging and may try your patience sometimes, but resorting to physical or verbal abuse toward your patients or co-workers is an inappropriate response. Depending on the severity and frequency of such behavior, you may very well face complaints.
Sexual Relations
Engaging sexually with your patients can easily create complicated relationships that would negatively impact their treatment and the entire workplace. Even if the relationship is consensual, it's never acceptable. You will almost certainly be sanctioned if you break this rule.
Filing an Appeal
If your professional license is revoked or suspended, don't give up on it. There's still a possibility to appeal the decisionwith the DOPL, ideally after already trying other solutions. Just remember that an appeal does not explore your guilt or innocence; it investigates whether you and the case were given fair and thorough due process or consideration.
However, note that you have ten days if the decision was based on mental incompetence or a refusal to submit to an evaluation on your part.
Why You Should Hire the Lento Law Firm to Defend You
Hopefully, you've found all this information helpful, but there's no need to act on it alone. The Lento Law Firm team is ready to assist you, and there are several reasons why you must call them before doing anything else.
Legal Knowledge
No matter how great you are at being an LPN or LVN, or even how familiar you are with federal and state laws governing your career, remember that courts and sanctions are a different field. You need to work with someone who understands not only the law but how to interpret and use it to advocate for you. The Lento Law Firm is nationally renowned for that.
Experience is Power
Your case would not be The Lento Law Firm's first rodeo. The Professional License Defense Team has successfully helped save the careers of countless LPNs and LVNs in Utah. They'll know how best to present your case to the DOPL and Utah State Board of Nursing.
Less Stress
You're probably feeling strong emotions about facing disciplinary hearings, especially knowing that you could be stripped of your license. The Lento Law Firm's Professional License Defense Team will reduce your stress by taking some of the burden off your shoulders.
While you focus on keeping your personal and professional life in order, they'll be formulating winning strategies to protect and support you. Let them worry about how to handle the nursing board.
Don't Let Anyone Take Away Your License!
A strong defense leads to second chances, which is why everyone deserves it. If you're passionate about ranking among Utah's few but vital LPNs and LVNs, let us help you fight to keep your license. Call the Lento Law Firm's Professional License Defense Team at 888.535.3686 or fill out a contact form to schedule a consultation.
