Thousands of nurses and nursing students nationwide are receiving notices that their nursing education may have been fraudulent. The notices, triggered by the Department of Health & Human Services' Operation Nightingale enforcement action against several now-closed Florida nursing schools, threaten the nurses' education, licensure, and employment. The schools reportedly include Siena College, Sacred Heart International Institute, Quisqueya Health Care Academy and Quisqueya School of Nursing (also known as Sunshine Academy), Med-Life Institute WPB, and Palm Beach School of Nursing. Nurses and nursing students, especially African and Haitian immigrants, have received notices from state licensing boards, hospitals, other employers of nurses, and graduate nursing schools. Your best move if you face one of these notices is to immediately hire national professional license defense attorney Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm's Defense Team. Don't risk your professional license relating to this massive alleged fraud scheme. Protect your nursing career while preserving and enforcing your rights. Call 888.535.3686 or go online now.

State Boards Notifying Nurses Involved in Fraud Scheme

State boards license nurses for employment in hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, private homes, and anywhere else where nurses practice. Without a nursing license, you won't generally find a credible employer willing to pay you for nursing services. But with the U.S. Attorney's Office public announcement of federal court wire-fraud charges against officials of the closed Florida nursing schools, state nursing boards like those in New York and Delaware have begun sending notices to nurses whose license depended on degrees and transcripts from those closed Florida schools involved in the alleged fraud scheme. Those notices are in some cases automatically annulling the involved nurses' state license. In other cases, the notices demand that the nurses prove their education to be authentic or, failing such proof, return and relinquish their nursing license. Reports indicate that the FBI is working with state licensing boards across the nation to identify other nurses whose education may have been fraudulent.

Employer Notification

State boards issuing these notices to the involved nurses may or may not be contacting the nurses' employers. But some employers of nurses, including hospitals in New York and likely many other locations, have begun their own investigations into the qualifications of nurses who attended one of the closed Florida schools. Those employers are sending their own notices to the nurses, in some cases terminating or suspending their employment. Employers are also threatening to turn nurses over to state licensing officials. If you haven't yet received a notice from either your state licensing official or employer, but you attended one of the closed Florida schools, your state license and employment are very likely at risk.

Premier Professional License Defense Attorney Available

Don't wait for the worst. Instead, take action now to preserve and protect your nursing career and keep your best options open. Professional license defense attorney Joseph D. Lento has helped hundreds of professionals and students nationwide with licensing and academic issues. Call 888.535.3686 or go online now.