In a situation where a nursing board has determined that a nurse has committed misconduct, the board also needs to decide how to discipline the nurse for that misconduct. The factors that the board will consider when deciding how to discipline the nurse will vary considerably depending on the type of misconduct and the circumstances. That said, there are two overriding concerns that all nursing boards have in these situations:
- Patient Welfare. Nursing boards exist primarily to protect patients. The more a nurse’s conduct was likely to harm (or did harm) a patient, the more likely it will be that the nurse will face serious sanctions.
- The Nurse’s Intent. A nurse who intentionally commits misconduct that they know they should not be committing is likely to be penalized more severely than a nurse who simply made a mistake.
If you are a nurse facing sanctions for misconduct, you need a strong defense. Even in situations where it is likely that you will be found to have committed misconduct, the sanctions you face can vary widely depending on the facts of your case. Sanctions can also vary depending on how your case is presented to your board or nursing (or your state’s disciplinary body). The LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team is here to fight for you in these difficult cases. Call us at 888.535.3686, or fill out our online contact form to schedule a confidential consultation with one of our experienced attorneys.
Patient Welfare is at the Heart of Nursing Board Actions
Nursing boards exist for patients. Making sure patients are safe and are not harmed by the actions of nurses is ultimately at the heart of why boards of nursing exist. The vast majority of the laws, rules, and regulations that govern how nursing boards operate all exist to help ensure that nurses provide patients with the appropriate standard of care.
The California Board of Registered Nursing, for example, “protects the health, safety, and well-being of the public.” The Texas Board of Nursing similarly “protects the public from unsafe nursing practices.” And the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing notes that it “protects the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of the Commonwealth.”
These nursing boards are not alone. Protecting the welfare of the public is the primary role of nursing boards all across the country. That is why when a nurse commits misconduct that directly and obviously puts one or more patients in danger, the nursing board is likely to seriously discipline the nurse.
The Intent of the Nurse Can Make a Difference
Nursing boards also exist to educate nurses. They tend to understand that nurses are human and make mistakes. Even when a mistake endangers patient safety, if the board is convinced that what the nurse did was based on a mistake that can be remedied with education instead of punishment, the nurse is likely to face less serious discipline than if the nurse had repeatedly been corrected for the same mistake in the past.
This means that a nurse who has been found to have committed misconduct because the nurse made a mistake in the care that they provided to a patient or in following proper care procedures may be required to complete one or more training courses, but may not face more serious discipline, such as a license suspension. Some boards may technically “suspend” the nurse’s license, but will put that suspension on hold provided the nurse enrolls in the required courses. Other boards will place the nurse on “probation” until the courses have been completed.
This is why it is important to make sure that, if you made an honest mistake in your work as a nurse, that point is made clear to your state’s board of nursing. When you work with one of the experienced attorneys from the LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team, we will make sure that the message is delivered clearly and accurately to the board.
Other Factors That Affect the Severity of Board Discipline
There are a number of other factors that can affect how severely a nursing board disciplines a nurse for misconduct. Here are some of the main ones:
The Nurse’s Prior Disciplinary History
A nurse who has never been investigated or disciplined before is less likely to face serious discipline than one who has. That’s a simple concept – a “repeat offender” is likely to receive a harsher sanction. This is why it is important to defend yourself even if you are accused of minor misconduct. Failing to mount a strong defense can result in you being sanctioned for a minor matter, which at the time may not seem like a big deal. But if you are later accused of more serious misconduct, the fact that you have already been sanctioned once can be used against you.
This is where the LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team can help. Even when the allegations against you are relatively minor, you need a strong defense – and we are here to provide you with one.
The Nature of the Violation
A minor mistake, such as failing to properly make a record of patient care, is likely to result in less serious sanctions than a major misconduct, such as patient abuse or diverting narcotics. That, of course, makes sense – but it also goes back to the idea of patient safety. A nurse whose mistake could have but did not cause harm to any patient is less likely to face serious discipline than a nurse whose actions actually harmed a patient or put a patient at significant risk of harm.
Sometimes there can be disagreement about whether a nurse’s misconduct actually harmed a patient or put the patient at risk. In some cases, it may be possible to have a medical expert testify that the nurse’s actions did not put the patient at risk of harm. The LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team has the experience to help decide when that kind of testimony may be helpful in a given case, and to make sure it is something that your state’s board of nursing will consider when deciding your case.
The Nurse’s Intent
Here too, an honest mistake is less likely to result in serious sanctions than is a knowing and willful violation of patient care protocol. A nurse who intentionally acts in a way that they know will put one or more patients in danger is almost always going to face serious discipline. A nurse who is able to prove that they did not intend their actions to cause any harm or put any patient in danger may be punished less severely.
Self-Reporting Versus Someone Else Reporting
Most states require nurses to report misconduct that they become aware of. That applies not only to misconduct committed by other nurses, but also to the nurse’s own misconduct. A nurse who self-reports their own mistakes or misconduct and does so fully and truthfully is much more likely to be treated leniently by the board than a nurse whose misconduct is reported by someone else.
How you self-report your own mistakes can make a big difference in how your nursing board reacts to them. The LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team can help you prepare your self-report so that it not only discloses what happened, but also provides your state’s nursing board with other relevant information that it can use to resolve your case quickly and fairly.
Cooperation With an Investigation
Just as nurses are required to report any misconduct they are aware of, they are also required to cooperate when the board of nursing conducts an investigation into alleged misconduct. How cooperative the accused nurse was during that investigation can make a difference in the sanctions the board imposes on the nurse after the investigation is complete.
At the LLF National Law Firm, our experienced professional license defense attorneys will work with you to make sure you are viewed by your state’s board as being cooperative if you are the target of an investigation. We will do this while at the same time protecting your rights and defending you against the allegations you’re facing.
Efforts to Self-Improve
If a nurse can show their board that they have already taken steps to improve themselves so that the alleged misconduct does not happen again, it can go a long way towards reducing any sanctions the nurse might face. For example, a nurse who makes a mistake in administering medication to one or more patients but then completes a training course that focuses on pharmacology and medication safety can use that to show their board that they are serious about not making that mistake again.
Similarly, a nurse who has issues with substance abuse and self-enrolls in a rehabilitation program may find that their board may focus on their efforts to rehabilitate themselves rather than on punishing the nurse for their substance abuse problems.
The Vulnerability of the Patient
A nurse who commits misconduct that puts a vulnerable patient at risk is likely to face more serious discipline than if the patient were more able. When the patient is a child, an elderly person, a person with mental challenges, or a person who is physically disabled, nursing boards will go out of their way to protect the victim by harshly punishing the nurse for misconduct committed against that kind of patient.
Personal Benefit
A nurse whose misconduct directly benefits them in some way is going to be punished more harshly than if the misconduct resulted in no apparent benefit. Some examples include stealing medication that the nurse either takes for their own use or sells to others; taking advantage of a relationship with a patient to ask for or accept expensive gifts or cash; or helping to commit insurance fraud in a way that will result in the nurse earning more money.
Any time it can be shown that the nurse personally benefits from the misconduct, the board is more likely to seriously sanction the nurse than if the nurse did not receive any personal benefit.
Deterrence
Sometimes, nursing boards will make an example of a nurse to deter other nurses from committing similar types of misconduct. This can happen where the type of misconduct that the nurse is found to have committed is one that is happening more regularly. In these cases, imposing serious public discipline on a specific nurse is meant both to punish the nurse and also to be a warning to other nurses not to commit the same type of misconduct.
The LLF National Law Firm is Here to Help You Get a Fair Result
Everybody makes mistakes. That includes nurses. And sometimes those mistakes result in an investigation by your state’s nursing board that can lead to disciplinary charges. When you find yourself accused of misconduct, you need a strong defense. That defense begins the day you learn you’ve been accused. And the LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team is here to provide you with a strong defense from start to finish.
Our attorneys defend nurses accused of all types of misconduct. We can help you no matter where you are working. We know the laws, regulations, rules, and procedures that apply in nursing misconduct cases. We also know how nursing boards think and what issues are important to them when it comes to disciplining nurses. When we are working on your behalf, we can address those issues while working to make sure you receive a fair result.
It’s important to understand that while it is best to reach out to the LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team as soon as you learn you’ve been accused of misconduct, we can help at any stage of the process. Even if you’ve been investigated and have been charged by your board with misconduct, contact us. Tell us about your situation, and let us evaluate what we can do to help. In many cases, we are able to negotiate with the board to avoid a hearing and arrive at a fair result that can help protect your license and your future. Sometimes we can also take matters to court to help correct wrongs that happened at the board level.
Contact us at 888.535.3686, or by filling out our online contact form. Our next step will be to schedule a confidential consultation so you can tell us about your case, and we can explain what we can do to help.