Nurses suffering state nursing board disciplinary actions, whether license reprimand, probation, suspension, or revocation, know the serious consequences that can follow. Those consequences can include job loss, lost reputation and relationships, and even loss of a nursing career. You don’t want to suffer discipline, and if you do, you don’t want discipline on your public record, keeping you from moving forward. The discussion below addresses whether and when disciplinary action remains a permanent mark on your record, and what you may be able to do about it. Your best move, though, is to retain the LLF National Law Firm’s premier Professional License Defense Team to help you favorably resolve your disciplinary issue. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now for the skilled and experienced representation you need to keep a permanent mark off your record or remove that mark if possible.
State Nursing Board Disciplinary Authority
You are right to be concerned about the impact of state nursing board disciplinary charges. State nursing practice acts authorize state nursing boards to both license nurses and discipline nursing licenses. See, for example, the Idaho Nurse Practice Act authorizing the Idaho Board of Nursing to issue, discipline, and suspend or revoke nursing licenses. See also the Oregon Nurse Practice Act, likewise authorizing the Oregon State Board of Nursing to issue and discipline nursing licenses. Don’t make the mistake of questioning your state nursing board’s disciplinary authority. Instead, respect your board’s authority and disciplinary process, while retaining us to defend and defeat your disciplinary charges. Keep your disciplinary record clean of any form of discipline, if possible.
Your State Nursing Board Disciplinary Record
You are also right to be concerned about your state nursing board disciplinary record. State nursing boards create and maintain disciplinary records relating to each case that the board investigates, determines that violations occurred, and enters an order of discipline. State nursing practice acts generally require that the state nursing board maintain records of discipline in a public database, often searchable online. See, for example, Tennessee’s online Health Professionals Boards Disciplinary Actions database, including disciplinary actions taken by the Tennessee Board of Nursing, naming the nurses and their violations. Your state nursing board likely publishes similar disciplinary action reports in an online database. Once again, your best move is to retain our highly qualified attorneys to defend your disciplinary charges, so that you have your best opportunity to retain a record clean of discipline.
The Duration of a Disciplinary Record
Public disciplinary records posted by a state nursing board generally have no specific sunset period. Once posted to the public database as the state nursing practice act permits or requires, state board disciplinary records are like court records, county and state business corporation filings, and other public records, presumably available in perpetuity. In practice, though, the continuing availability of such records may depend on the technology through which state officials store and distribute them. At some point, old disciplinary records may fall off the electronic page simply because of the accumulation of new disciplinary records.
Saying so, though, should not rule out legislative changes. State legislatures are continually updating employment laws, rules, and regulations, including the laws on the retention, expungement, or disclosure of criminal, disciplinary, or other sanctions records. Your state legislature or state nursing board may determine that certain disciplinary actions should not persist beyond a reasonable period to protect patients and the public. In that case, you could see your “permanent” disciplinary record disappear or become confidential. Let us help you explore your options, including the several options listed below, if you find that your state nursing board discipline appears to be a permanent mark on your record.
The Duration of Discipline
The duration of your discipline can be just as important as, or more important than, the duration of your record of discipline. The order you suffered or to which you consented, suspending or revoking your license, may have contained an express term indicating when the suspension ends or how long the revocation must last before you may gain relief with the reinstatement of your license. Typical license suspension periods include one month, three months, six months, or one year. A license revocation order may indicate that license reinstatement is unavailable for one or two years or some other period. Once your discipline ends by order, after the passage of time and your completion of any terms or conditions of discipline, you may seek license reinstatement. With license reinstatement, you may resume nursing practice, as long as you find an employer willing to hire you. Discipline is generally more important than a record of discipline. Let us help you regain your license.
License Reinstatement
State nursing practice acts indeed typically provide for some opportunity for license reinstatement. License reinstatement is commonly available after the defined period of license suspension that the order provides. But license reinstatement may also be available after an indefinite suspension or license revocation, depending on your state nursing practice act and state nursing board administrative rules. See, for example, the Idaho Nurse Practice Act, already cited above, authorizing the Idaho Board of Nursing to reinstate a suspended or revoked license. Your state nursing practice act may have a similar reinstatement provision.
Don’t take your license reinstatement as a guarantee, though. State nursing practice acts routinely require that you complete all terms and conditions of discipline, submit a convincing petition for reinstatement, and document your compliance and completion of all terms and conditions. Don’t waste your opportunity for license reinstatement. Let us help you prepare a convincing, accurate, thorough, and well-documented petition so that you regain your license and can practice nursing once again. Whether your disciplinary record is clear or not, you need your license to practice. That’s step one. Let us help you qualify for practice once again. Then, let us explore the other options below for clearing your disciplinary record.
State Nursing Board Disclosures
Clearing your disciplinary record can be a big help to your nursing ambitions and career. One big issue that nurses who face discipline face is how widely state nursing boards distribute and disclose disciplinary action reports. Both the Nursys national nursing license verification system and the National Practitioner Data Bank receive state nursing board disciplinary action reports to act as national clearinghouses. Employers, hospitals, agencies, investigators, peer review boards, and other state nursing boards can all access these verification systems to discover your discipline. Of course, your state nursing board will also likely post your disciplinary action to its own online database, which may be searchable by any member of the public. In short, your disciplinary record can instantly go worldwide, where it might remain long term. Let us help you avoid discipline. If you’ve already suffered discipline, let us help you try to remove your disciplinary record.
Removing Discipline from Your Record
Your state nursing board may have a procedure, whether published or informal, allowing for expungement of certain discipline records. See, for example, the Kentucky Board of Nursing’s administrative rule authorizing the Board to expunge a disciplinary record after five, ten, or twenty years without subsequent discipline, on the disciplined nurse’s application. Expungement effectively means that the Board of Nursing seals the record, will not disclose any discipline connected to it, and permits the nurse to state that no discipline occurred. Your state nursing board may have a similar expungement procedure, although they are not common. And don’t expect expungement as a guarantee. Instead, let us help you with a petition for expungement to ensure that you don’t waste your best opportunity to regain a clean record.
State Nursing Board Discipline Withdrawal
If expungement is not available to you, you may have another option, indeed a better and sooner option, to regain a clean disciplinary record. Some states expressly or impliedly authorize the state nursing board to withdraw a disciplinary action. See, for example, the Oregon Nurse Practice Act’s provision allowing the Oregon State Board of Nursing “to render null and void an order of disciplinary action” against a licensed nurse. The Oregon Nurse Practice Act thus empowers the Oregon State Board of Nursing to withdraw a prior order of discipline, in which case it should remove the discipline from any public record.
If your state nursing practice act has a similar provision, though, don’t assume that withdrawal is likely or guaranteed. Instead, retain our attorneys to make your best case for the withdrawal of your disciplinary action. Withdrawal of a decision would generally take extraordinary circumstances. New evidence may have come to light, for instance, exonerating you from the charge, such as the admission of a patient or colleague that they falsified the charge. The practice in which you engaged that formed the basis for your discipline may, for another example, have become an accepted and customary practice, effectively exonerating you by the passage of time and improvement of nursing practices. These circumstances would plainly be rare, but they might cause your state nursing board to withdraw its discipline and leave you with a clean record. Let us help you evaluate your opportunity for this form of relief.
Alternative Remedial Relief as an Option
State nursing boards don’t have to discipline nurses who have violated nursing standards. Better options may exist. State nursing practice acts create state nursing boards to protect patients and the public. Patient and public protection, though, doesn’t always require license suspension or revocation. Our attorneys have the substantial knowledge, skill, and experience to craft remedial plans as an alternative to punitive sanctions. Our remedial measures often convince state nursing board officials that our client nurse is not a threat to patient or public safety. Remedial measures that our client nurses will often complete on their own or be readily able to complete without substantial burden, and therefore commonly approve, include remedial education or training, evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, counseling, mentoring, and monitoring. Let us put forward to your state nursing board disciplinary officials your best case for non-punitive remedial measures, in the course of our pursuing other relief from your discipline.
Request for Reconsideration or Rehearing
As a famous athlete and public figure once said, it ain’t over ‘til it’s over. Your disciplinary proceeding may have already resulted in a decision imposing discipline, whether after a hearing or in another manner or at another stage. State nursing practice acts, though, may permit a nurse suffering discipline to request reconsideration or rehearing. See, for example, the Louisiana State Board of Nursing administrative rule for rehearing or reconsideration. A request for reconsideration generally involves showing the state nursing board that it made a palpable error of law, fact, or procedure in its decision, the correction of which would reverse the discipline. A rehearing request may involve showing the state nursing board that you have discovered new evidence, the introduction of which would reverse the discipline, such as a complaining witness’s admission to a mistake or false testimony. Let us help you explore your opportunity for reconsideration or rehearing that reverses your discipline. Doing so could clear your disciplinary record.
Appeal of State Nursing Board Discipline
You may also have remaining appeal rights that we could pursue for the reversal of your disciplinary record, while we also advocate and negotiate for alternative remedial relief as a resolution option. State nursing practice acts routinely authorize disciplined nurses to appeal the disciplinary decision either to the full state nursing board, an administrative appeals official or panel, or a state civil court. Let us pursue your appeal rights while advocating for relief from your disciplinary action.
Premier Nursing License Defense Available
If you face state nursing board disciplinary charges or have already suffered discipline and want to address removing it from your record, retain the LLF National Law Firm’s premier Professional License Defense Team for the highly qualified representation you need. Our skilled and experienced attorneys help hundreds of nurses and other healthcare professionals defend and defeat licensing board disciplinary charges and address the impact of a disciplinary record. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now for the skilled representation you need to keep your record clean or to clean it up as much as possible.