No one likes hearing complaints about their job performance, but the stakes are higher for nurse practitioners facing complaints of misconduct or rule violations. Despite nurse practitioners in Tennessee providing an important public service, this ability to serve can be taken away because of honest mistakes, false allegations, or the stresses of the job.
The Lento Law Firm understands how important your role is and how hard you worked to achieve your license. Our Professional License Defense Team can work with your licensing board and represent you during disciplinary proceedings, giving you the best chance at successfully defending your license. Contact us today at 888-535-3686 or fill out our confidential online form to schedule a consultation with our team.
Sanctions and Disciplinary Actions Against Nurse Practitioner Licenses in Tennessee
The Tennessee Board of Nursing oversees licensing for nurse practitioners, with the stated mission of safeguarding Tennesseans from harm by regulating nursing in the state. However, this doesn't mean that the Board of Nursing works against the interests of nurse practitioners as a guiding principle. Maintaining high standards, providing education, and disciplining those who risk patients' safety promotes trust in the nursing profession and protects the public.
The Board of Nursing has the power to discipline nurse practitioners by revoking or suspending their license, imposing civil penalties, publicly reprimanding them, ordering additional training, or any other action that they deem necessary to safeguard the public. A punishment's severity will vary depending on the unique circumstances of each infraction, and the goal is to provide the nurse practitioner a path forward to continue working, if possible.
Some of the most common grounds for license sanctions in Tennessee include:
- Fraud or deception when reporting information to the Board of Nursing
- Criminal convictions
- Incompetence, negligence, or other behavior that puts the public at risk of harm
- Substance abuse that affects a nurse practitioner's ability to perform their duties
- Unprofessional conduct
- Violations of Tennessee nursing provisions or lawful orders of the Board of Nursing
Actions that the Board deems serious violations can lead to the revocation of your license and the inability to work in Tennessee as a nurse practitioner. If you are under investigation by the Tennessee Board of Nursing, don't leave anything to chance. The Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team can represent you before the Board and help limit the disciplinary sanctions you receive.
Complaints Related To Nurse Practitioner Prescriptive Authority
Tennessee allows nurse practitioners to apply for a Certificate to Prescribe, enabling them to prescribe medications within the scope of their practice. However, this authority is not absolute, and nurse practitioners may face complaints about their conduct. Common complaints include:
- Inappropriate prescribing
- Prescription errors
- Inadequate monitoring of patients and their side effects
- Prescribing beyond the scope of one's practice
Taking on additional responsibilities to help patients shouldn't put you at further risk of disciplinary action. If you are facing an investigation into your conduct stemming from medication prescriptions, the Lento Law Firm can help prevent these allegations from becoming formal disciplinary sanctions. Even if honest mistakes are unlikely to rise to the level of sanctions on your license, the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team can still work with investigators and Board members to come to a resolution that places only minor limits on your license or avoids them entirely.
Receiving a Complaint as a Tennessee Nurse Practitioner
As a nurse practitioner, you don't intend to break nursing policies or do purposeful harm to a patient, but complaints might still come your way. Whether a false accusation of misconduct or a valid complaint, potential disciplinary action that threatens your career is always stressful. These feelings are often compounded due to the anonymous nature of complaints, not knowing who alleged misconduct or why.
The identities of complainants in Tennessee are kept confidential and not disclosed to the nurse practitioner. Most complainants send their information through the Board's online Allegations Report portal, limiting the barriers preventing someone from making their concerns known. Anyone can file a complaint, but the most common complainants include:
- Patients
- Family members
- Law enforcement officials
- Colleagues
- Healthcare facility administrators
Even though a complainant's identity is confidential, false accusations don't immediately risk your license, career, or reputation. Information contained in a complaint is not public unless the Board of Nursing follows up on the complaint and determines that formal disciplinary proceedings are warranted. However, don't assume that investigations into your conduct will fizzle out, even if you did nothing wrong. Contact the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team when Tennessee lets you know of active investigations into your conduct.
How an Attorney Can Help During Investigations and Disciplinary Proceedings
As soon as you are made aware of a complaint against you, an attorney can step in to help. The Tennessee Board of Nursing authorizes a licensed consultant to work with a Tennessee Department of Health staff attorney to review your complaint, and you need a similar team on your side to protect your rights during the process.
You will likely receive a written notice reasonably early in the process outlining what happens next. If the complaint is frivolous or doesn't complain about actions that violate current statutes and rules, the reviewers do not forward the complaint to an investigator. However, if the complaint alleges actual misconduct or violations, even without evidence, they will want to take a closer look. When complaints blossom into investigations, an attorney's help is invaluable.
Investigations
Reviewers forward complaints to field investigators to collect more evidence to prove or disprove the allegations. Investigators can interview affected parties, including the accused, and examine documentation regarding your previous history as a nurse practitioner. As the person under investigation, the investigator will want to talk to you to allow you to explain your actions.
Attorneys can coordinate with investigators, provide evidence to explain the situation, and help you prepare for your interview. Importantly, these investigations do not focus on proving your guilt and maximizing punishments. Depending on how well you answer questions and explain your actions, reviewers may not go forward with formal proceedings or forgo disciplinary action for alternative programs or additional training. The Lento Law Firm can help craft a defense that addresses allegations of malpractice, negligence, substance abuse, or prescribing errors, helping to paint you in the best light before investigators.
Review Process
After the initial reviewers of your complaint receive evidence from the investigation, they will conduct another review to determine whether the evidence supports a finding of rule violations. Unlike their first review, which assumed the allegations were true and resulted in evidence gathering, this decision will rely on evidence and identify actual violations.
If the evidence does not support the allegations, you will receive a written notice that ends the complaint process. However, if a violation is found, the reviewers must decide whether to proceed with formal disciplinary charges or issue an informal letter of correction.
The difference between formal disciplinary actions and informal letters of correction is night and day. Even if an informal letter details violations and warns of potential future issues, it allows you to change your behavior and avoid discipline altogether. Informal letters are not part of your disciplinary record, do not show up on your license, and are not public information.
Formal disciplinary actions are when attorneys and their assistance are essential to limit license restrictions. Still, you should avoid that outcome as much as possible by working with an attorney from the get-go. Attorneys can communicate with the reviewing parties to lessen punishments and prevent disciplinary action from occurring. Avoiding disciplinary action may require a nurse practitioner to join alternative programs to address behavior voluntarily.
Tennessee's Alternative Peer Assistance Program
Reviewers may refer you to the Tennessee Professional Assistance Program if your violation involves impairment of your practice as a nurse practitioner due to substance use or other psychological and physiological conditions. Nurse practitioners who undergo evaluations and treatment do not face disciplinary actions against their license.
The Tennessee Board of Nursing understands that addiction is a treatable problem, especially if treated early. Attorneys representing you during your disciplinary process can argue for placement into this alternative program to address misconduct and allow you to continue working as a nurse practitioner.
Formal Disciplinary Actions
If the reviewing body does not dismiss the complaint, recommend an alternative program, or issue an informal warning, they can refer the issue to the Tennessee Board of Nursing to begin formal disciplinary action. You have the right to a hearing prior to the Board placing sanctions on your license, and you should have an attorney represent you if you have not already hired one.
Formal hearings are similar to trials, and members of the Board will hear evidence from both sides. You can call witnesses, show documentation that bolsters your case, and argue your innocence before the Board. However, many cases are resolved before reaching this step.
Your attorneys can work with the prosecuting lawyer to craft an agreement that both sides feel is fair. Usually, you must agree with the facts of the case and accept punishment, whether probation or a suspension of your license. At this stage of the process, the primary aim of your attorneys is to limit the long-term limits on your license and get you back to work as a nurse practitioner as soon as possible.
Starting from the first written notice of an investigation into your conduct, the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team can help. Formal disciplinary actions are public knowledge, routinely posted online for all to see. They appear on your license for years to come and may limit your ability to work in Tennessee. When so much is on the line, don't put yourself at a disadvantage by trying to navigate the disciplinary process alone.
Appealing Disciplinary Action That Appears on Your License
Formal disciplinary action becomes a permanent part of your public license record. However, Tennessee law does allow you to appeal these decisions. If you did not hire attorneys to represent you and are now dealing with sanctions on your license, an appeal might be the next best move to take.
Even if you don't prove your innocence at appeal, an attorney may be able to argue for lesser punishments or referral to an alternative program. Lack of legal representation earlier in the process might be a factor that influences an appeal court to reduce sanction severity. After a disciplinary process that may have been months long, it isn't wise to enter a lengthy appeals process without working with attorneys once again.
Contact the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team today to explain your situation to an attorney and empower us to defend your nurse practitioner license on appeal.
Defending Your Nurse Practitioner License, No Matter Where You Work in Tennessee
The Professional License Defense Team at the Lento Law Firm has helped nurse practitioners employed by many of the largest employers in the state, including:
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center (Nashville)
- MH Methodist University Hospital (Memphis)
- University of Tennessee Medical Center (Knoxville)
- Erlanger Baroness Hospital (Chattanooga)
- TriStar Centennial Medical Center (Nashville)
- Baptist Memorial Hospital-Memphis (Memphis)
- Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital West (Nashville)
- Jackson-Madison County General Hospital (Jackson)
- Parkwest Medical Center (Knoxville)
- Tennova Healthcare (Clarksville)
If you find yourself facing potential sanctions on your license, the Lento Law Firm can help. No matter where you work, our team can spring into action to keep your license in good standing with the Tennessee Board of Nursing.
The Lento Law Firm is Ready to Defend Your Tennessee Nurse Practitioner License from Allegations of Misconduct
After becoming a nurse and continuing your education to become a nurse practitioner, you shouldn't let complaints balloon into disciplinary action that puts your license at risk. Whether you have just received notice of a complaint or are currently struggling with the early days of license sanctions, our Professional License Defense Team can help.
Contact the Lento Law Firm today by phone at 888-535-3686 or through our website to schedule a consultation. We can work with you to prepare for interviews, gather evidence, appeal rulings, and anything else that protects your future as a nurse practitioner in Tennessee.
