Ohio proudly employs more than hundreds of thousands of registered nurses. Since almost half of them practice in the Greater Columbus area—comprised of cities and towns throughout central Ohio, such as Columbus, Cincinnati, Akron, Dayton, Cleveland, Toledo, Youngstown, and others—that's where most professional issues arise. In fact, over time, the area has become known for its proneness to specific problems that can affect state nursing licenses.
If you're working as a registered nurse in the Greater Columbus area, those are the problems with which you should be familiar. It could make the difference between losing and protecting your license. Equally important is to contact the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team at 888.535.3686 or by filling out this contact form anytime you need advice or support for your career.
The Disciplinary Process for Licensed Nurses in Greater Columbus
The Ohio Board of Nursing oversees every nursing-related issue that happens throughout the state. However, since it's headquartered just 10 miles away from Columbus in Reynoldsburg, they are particularly familiar with nursing needs in the metro area.
When nurses in Greater Columbus are the subjects of complaints or misconduct reports, the Ohio Board of Nursing has a disciplinary process that it tends to follow. You should know what to expect in case it happens to you while you're practicing in any of its cities or towns.
The Board Investigates and/or Monitors the Nurse
To determine the veracity and severity of the accused nurse's actions, the Ohio Board of Nursing will perform a formal investigation. In addition to gathering and evaluating evidence, it may include interviews with the accuser or witnesses, as well as a criminal background check on the nurse. The criminal background check alone could lead to sanctions on a nurse's license, depending on the crime and disposition.
If the board deems it necessary, it may also monitor the nurse's work and any related activities for the duration of the investigation. To preserve the nurse's privacy, the monitoring is kept confidential.
Once the board concludes the investigation, it may review the information and decide to dismiss the complaint or report against the nurse in question. Otherwise, it will proceed.
The Board Arranges a Hearing
The next step after an investigation is a hearing. The Ohio Board of Nursing will schedule one with the nurse with enough time for them to arrange for additional evidence, statements, witnesses, or legal representation in their favor.
Although you would ideally have already been receiving advice and support from the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team, this is the most important time to entrust them with your case. To get the best possible results from the hearing, have them accompany you.
The Board Adjudicates the Case
Upon reviewing the facts and taking the nurse's defense into account, the Ohio Board of Nursing will agree on an adjudication. If the nurse is considered guilty, their license could end up with various sanctions, such as fines, restrictions, suspension, or revocation.
Common Nursing License Issues in Greater Columbus
Demographics, politics, local culture, and other factors all converge together to create both strengths and weaknesses in regional healthcare. The weaknesses come up frequently in complaints and sanctions against nurses within the area. For Greater Columbus, the most common issues for nurses include the following.
Patient Neglect
Ohio's nurse staffing shortage has done no favors for patients. Burdened with unrealistic workloads, nurses struggle to keep up with addressing the physical, medical, mental, and emotional needs of their patients. Unfortunately, rather than compelling the state government to enact concrete solutions, this has increased the likelihood of nurses suffering accusations of patient neglect that have led to harmful consequences.
One example of a patient neglect case that made headlines from 2019 to 2021 was that of a former nurse and other employees who worked at a nursing care facility called Whetstone. A resident was believed to have literally “rotted to death” from sepsis due to a lack of care and attention from the staff. Although the accused were found not guilty, the investigation and trial process interrupted their careers for two years and will likely have lasting effects on their prospects.
Patient neglect, in general, has long been highlighted as a problem among nurses in Ohio. In fact, in 2019, eight companies from the Greater Columbus area found themselves on a federal list of nursing homes that consistently provided poor quality care, largely due to neglect.
Theft
Whether due to stress, financial desperation, or other issues, Ohio nurses have been known to steal drugs, confidential information, and other items. In fact, the Ohio Attorney General's office reported three separate convictions from 2024 involving theft, usually in relation to Medicare and/or prescription drugs.
In the healthcare industry, theft often requires forgery, evidence tampering, falsification of documents, and Medicare fraud. As the aforementioned cases show, the theft convictions included counts for those crimes as well. They increase the likelihood that the accused nurses will have their licenses restricted, suspended, or revoked.
Of course, there's also the matter of simple burglary, which also occurs among nurses in Ohio. For instance, one nurse's aide in Delaware—a city within the Greater Columbus area—was found guilty of stealing from patients in the assisted living facility where she worked.
Medicare/Medicaid Fraud
As another form of dishonesty, Medicare and Medicaid fraud commonly go hand-in-hand with theft. Nurses who are accused of one may very well be accused of the other as well. This has certainly been true in Ohio, such as in the cases noted in the previous section. The problem is severe enough that the Attorney General's office employs a Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) to combat it.
In fact, there's another example of the active role that the MFCU plays in Greater Columbus—the 2014 case of a Marysville nurse who was convicted of Medicaid Fraud, in addition to aggravated theft and falsification.
As these cases demonstrate, Medicare/Medicaid fraud will not only get you in trouble with the Ohio Board of Nursing but also with the state government.
Substance Abuse
With access to a wide array of powerful drugs, nurses can easily turn to substance abuse for recreation or as a coping mechanism. That's why there's a high rate of substance abuse among nurses throughout the United States, and Greater Columbus is no exception.
Opioids, in particular, have made headlines in the area. Take the 2018 case in which three nurses were charged with stealing their patients' opioid drugs. One of them was even believed to be selling the drug in addition to using it herself.
The Ohio Board of Nursing seeks to address substance abuse problems with its Alternative Program for Substance Abuse Disorder. The Ohio Department of Health also offers Project DAWN, designed to help opioid addicts find treatment.
Physical and Sexual Abuse
The profession of nursing itself tends to expose its practitioners to high rates of violence and abuse. However, it also gives nurses opportunities to inflict physical or sexual abuse on the vulnerable people in their care. In Greater Columbus, media outlets have covered several such cases.
There's the 2023 case of a Marysville nurse who sexually abused male patients by subjecting them to unnecessary genital examinations. In 2022, two cases arose concerning physical abuse; in one, a nurse in Columbus beat a mental health patient to death, and the other charged eight Cleveland nurses with regularly assaulting patients with intellectual disabilities.
How Nursing License Sanctions Can Nurses in Greater Columbus
If the Ohio Board of Nursing finds you guilty of a crime or code violation, the disciplinary assignments could range from fees or warnings to license suspensions, restrictions, or revocations. They can all have ripple effects on the rest of your career.
For example, say that you're convicted of substance abuse. Completing a substance abuse treatment program could spare you from license revocation or other sanctions, but it can still interrupt or stunt your career. Nurses commonly report trouble finding work after overcoming addiction.
Also, sanctions and complaints tend to remain on your professional record. Many of the major healthcare employers in Greater Columbus—including OhioHealth, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Cardinal Health, Cleveland Clinic, UnitedHealth Group, Abbott, LabCorp, MercyHealth, Mount Carmel Health, and HCA Healthcare—require background checks before onboarding new or promoting new nurses. Your odds of being hired decrease when your record shows a history of sanctions, even if it's small.
Even if your prospective employers are willing to overlook the sanctions themselves, certain disciplinary measures could prevent you from building the experience and skill set necessary to move up in the nursing industry. License restrictions would bar you from performing a variety of tasks that you may need to master for higher positions. Suspensions could keep you out of the field entirely long enough to compromise your skills or create a large gap in your employment history. Although it's often possible to reinstate your license after revocation, the forced break from work is usually even worse than with a suspension.
Should you overcome all these obstacles, there's still one more that you simply can't control—the opinions of your supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates. They can discover your record and use it as justification for disrespecting you or excluding you from their professional contact network, further limiting your opportunities for growth.
Don't let any of this happen. Instead, reach out to the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team.
How Can the Lento Law Firm Protect Your Nursing License Defense?
As one of the most populous and diverse places in Ohio, the Greater Columbus area is bound to have norms and challenges that differ from the rest of the state. You need lawyers who understand this and will tailor your case to both your home and personal circumstances.
That is where the Lento Law Firm excels. Boasting years of dedication and experience with all kinds of cases, the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team will call upon their familiarity with Ohio nursing laws and Greater Columbus to create a winning strategy on your behalf. They can certainly support you with the issues nurses most commonly face in the area. Examples include the most common violations investigated in Ohio:
Patient Neglect
According to nurses in Greater Columbus, the state of Ohio has a bad habit of scapegoating nurses for problems and tragedies caused by patient neglect rather than prosecuting leadership or legislating solutions to the problems that prevent nurses from performing their duties as best as they can. In fact, the previously described case with the nurses who were indicted for patient neglect when an elderly patient died of sepsis highlighted the issue in the media, prompting many nurses to speak out.
The Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team understands this. If you're accused of patient neglect, they can help devise a defense strategy that points the blame where it truly belongs—with the people and institutions that make nursing more difficult than it should be.
Theft
The Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team is familiar with nurse theft cases, having handled plenty themselves. They understand not only Ohio law regarding theft among nurses but the context and humanity behind every perpetrator. That understanding drives them to effectively defend you and your license if you're caught stealing.
Medicare/Medicaid Fraud
With its experience in defending Medicare and Medicaid fraud, the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team knows not only the law itself but what's at stake if you're convicted. From start to finish, they'll devise a strategy that follows a proven pattern of success while tailoring it to your specific needs and circumstances.
Substance Abuse
As one of the most common violations for nurses throughout the U.S., substance abuse cases require extensive legal knowledge and experience. That's what the Lento Law Firm Professional Defense Team offers. By now, they've advocated for so many nurses against substance abuse charges that they've practically made it an art form.
Physical or Sexual Abuse
Considering the severity of the crime and how difficult it can be to prove, not every lawyer will take on cases of nurses being accused of physical or sexual assault. However, the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team prides itself on digging deep to discover the truth behind every accusation and present their clients in a positive light, even when faced with abuse charges.
Protect Your Right to Practice Nursing in Greater Columbus
With its diversity and opportunities to fill the nursing shortage, the Greater Columbus metro area is a wonderful place to develop a rich career as a nurse. To avoid missing out on everything it can offer, set yourself up for the protection and support you need. To learn more, contact the Lento Law Firm Professional License Defense Team at 888.535.3686 or by filling out a contact form.
