I survived the Board of Nursing

[KCMnurse]

Where do I begin? I have been following this site for years and it has been a source of both comfort and anxiety. The following describes my ordeal handling a complaint against my nursing license.

I was almost physically sick as I read page after page of allegations of neglect, poor judgment, failure to follow nursing standards -the list went on. To be honest I could not believe what I was reading, much less begin to understand where all this was coming from. Many of the complaints were about areas that I was not even responsible for. The letter gave me 10 days to respond to the allegations. My first instinct was to get a lawyer; I let my husband talk me out of it. He was convinced, as I was, that I simply had to respond to the allegations and they would go away. HOW WRONG I WAS!! Foolishly I thought that if I simply explained what really happened the situation would be resolved.

I submitted my carefully crafted response and waited for the board to exonerate me. After four months with no response, I contacted the board to find out what the status of the complaint was. After some transfers, I was informed by the board's lawyer that they were moving forward with disciplinary action. I did not know what to say or do - I was in complete shock. I managed to ask what recourse I would have, I was told that I would be able to request a settlement hearing once I was formally notified of my charges. I immediately contacted a lawyer. BEST MOVE I MADE. She carefully reviewed the information and submitted a letter to the board that all further communication was to come through her. I then sat and waited for nine long months for the formal charges. I prayed, worried, stressed, and cried my way through those months. If it had not have been for the support of my husband I would not have made it through the whole ordeal.

Finally, I received an email outlining the charges - all eleven of them. I was devastated, but once I got myself together I sat down and carefully read them. Charge, after charge I had clear evidence to refute. I contacted my lawyer who had already requested a settlement hearing. I went over the charges and my evidence to refute the charges. She spent two days carefully crafting a response to each allegation and attaching supporting evidence.

The settlement hearing came a month later - I can't explain how I felt looking into the faces of the board members and explaining complaint after complaint. I was an exemplary nurse, who had never had a bad report or performance evaluation and here I was practically begging for my license.

The board had not conducted ANY type of investigation, had not contacted my former employer, requested records, or interviewed me -NOTHING! It took all of 30 minutes and I was dismissed to wait for their decision.

Later that afternoon, I got the best phone call from my lawyer, all charges were dropped - case closed. That's it - it was finally over. Needless to say this has left a bad taste in my mouth. The board could just as easily have taken my livelihood away from me without doing their due diligence. Looking back I am so disappointed in an entity that supposedly is in place to protect the public yet failed to conduct a proper investigation on allegations that turned out be completely false.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Another issue which has not been brought up yet is that if you are named in a suit and it does produce an award, the case will be referred to the BON and you can then have your license sanctioned in that manner also. And...your hospital, employer does not cover your expenses for this.

If you don't have your own malpractice insurance, these expenses (which can run into the tens of thousands of dollars) will come from your pocket.

And best of all (said extremely sarcastically) it can take literally years to settle a malpractice lawsuit.

[NurseDiane]

What needs to be changed is for the rights of the nurse----the BON should be able to be sued for defamation, libel and slander. As it is now, BON's can't be sued because they are looked at as a government entity, which enjoys sovereign immunity. Proceeding with an action when there has been no investigation or explanation of the charges is negligent on the part of the BON, and should be able to be decided in a REAl court of law. The BON's have nothing to lose by prosecuting or not investigating, and that is what has to change. Allowing nurses to sue for these things, as well as fraud & violation of due process and civil rights, would stop the BON's from all of this bulls**. As it is now, they have nothing to lose & will move forward to prosecute everybody to save their own jobs. A board action should not differ at all from a criminal prosecution/trial---but it is handled MUCH differently. If a nurse has to shell out $40,000+ only to have charges dismissed, there MUST be a way for that nurse to recoup that money----whether from the BON or the complainant. That would stop a lot of complaints from people looking to "get back" at a nurse for whatever "wrong" they feel was done to them. If the BON can recover costs from a nurse for their "investigation" and "hearing" costs, a nurse should have the same rights. In a court action, a party can move for reimbursement of costs. If the BON's make it a habit of prosecuting without investigating & use scare/threat tactics to get nurses to submit to their conditions, and a nurse has to spend a crap ton of money to get a lawyer to prove themselves not guilty of the bogus charges because the BON was too lazy to do a proper investigation, there must be recourse for the nurse. Maybe that is a route to be looked into with state legislation---since nurses seeking to have the rules of the BON changed, and instead are looking to get more protections for themselves that are entirely valid, that might be a way to go. Plus---if the complaint that results in the charges is bogus, nurses should be entitled to the name of the entity that filed the complaint so that they can sue the complainant for defamation, libel & slander to recover the costs of their defense against the BON.

[KCMnurse, BSN, MSN, RN]

NurseDiane, I completely agree with you, but I have to correct you - it was not an improper investigation - there was NO investigation.

The BON has your license in their hands and they use it as a bargaining chip. By the time the BON got around to letting me know that they were proceeding with the complaint I had no fight left in me. I had spent the previous months planning for the worst case scenario - losing my license, losing my livelihood, and not being able to keep a roof over my head. I had even contemplated surrendering my license just to get it all over with. I cannot even begin to explain the rollercoaster of fear and anxiety I endured for almost a year. No one should have to endure that. I felt I had no rights as I was completely at their mercy.

This whole situation has me looking over my shoulder - still. Change needs to happen, the BON's have no accountability and as such can do whatever they want to whomever - with no repercussions. Nurses are so grateful to escape with their license intact, we (or at least I) didn't have the energy to deal with them once the 'case' was closed.

[NurseDiane]

KCMnurse said:

NurseDiane, I completely agree with you, but I have to correct you - it was not an improper investigation - there was NO investigation.

The BON has your license in their hands and they use it as a bargaining chip. By the time the BON got around to letting me know that they were proceeding with the complaint I had no fight left in me. I had spent the previous months planning for the worst case scenario - losing my license, losing my livelihood, and not being able to keep a roof over my head. I had even contemplated surrendering my license just to get it all over with. I cannot even begin to explain the rollercoaster of fear and anxiety I endured for almost a year. No one should have to endure that. I felt I had no rights as I was completely at their mercy.

This whole situation has me looking over my shoulder - still. Change needs to happen, the BON's have no accountability and as such can do whatever they want to whomever - with no repercussions. Nurses are so grateful to escape with their license intact, we (or at least I) didn't have the energy to deal with them once the 'case' was closed.

I am so sorry that you had to go through that. The lack of accountability is a MAJOR problem, especially considering the power they yield over nurses' licenses. I don't know how anything has not been done about this. The only thing I can think of is that state politicians don't give a rat's a** because it is not an issue that will get them votes or $$$$ for their future campaigns. They'd rather come up with ideas about how to increase the state's income----like doubling the fines for speeding tickets or parking tickets. I always say, just follow the money, because that's what really matters. It applies to everything in government, at all levels.

[brillohead, ADN, RN]

tacticool said:

Sorry to hear this happened, but glad about the outcome. As for personal liabilty insurance- GET IT. Why? It's just like a homeowner's warranty policy. If something breaks, the manufacturer's warranty might be obsolete, or you get told it's not covered. Don't assume that your employer will represent you. In nursing school, I asked some of my seasoned instructors about it. "Oh, your employer will cover you." And I asked what happens if I get sued as a nursing student? The responses were (You operate under my license" (DUH! But that doesn't answer the question), or "you're covered by the university or the hospital". Really? I wasn't EMPLOYED by the hospital as a student and nowhere was there any mention of legal representation when I enrolled in nursing school.

My community college carried student malpractice insurance for nursing students as part of our "lab fees". It wasn't spelled out as an extra charge, it was just rolled into the tuition/fees that we paid for each class. But we were covered by a malpractice policy through the school.

Also, STUDENTS DO NOT OPERATE UNDER THE INSTRUCTOR'S LICENSE! This is something that gets said over and over again, but it is NOT true.

[midgeypoo, LPN]

SMORRA: Yes feel free to use NSO Nurses Service Organization, they provide malpractice insurance as well as other insurances. I paid 108.00/yearly premium.

More than paid for itself just this past year when I had to hire an attorney to "protect my license" Yes, the NSO even covers your attorney fees if you are accused of something by the BON. And to think I nearly let drop. So, So glad I continued making yearly payments - money well spent! Good Luck to You.;

[didi768]

Life hurts.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

"He was convinced, as I was, that I simply had to respond to the allegations and they would go away. HOW WRONG I WAS!!"

This this THIS.

The first thing I would tell anyone going in front of the BON is to not fall into the trap of thinking that the BON is the nurses' friend, that if they just explained what happened, the BON would nod understandingly and make it all go away. The BON is not the nurses' friend at all. The BON is looking out for the public first and foremost, and couldn't give a rat's *** about whether they're ending your nursing career.

The other thing I'd tell them is that having a lawyer involved when you talk to the BON isn't an admission of guilt or wrong-doing. It means that you are bringing in someone who is going to focus 100% on you and fight for your best interests. The BON certainly isn't going to do it, but your lawyer will.

Glad things worked out for you, OP.

[RNOTODAY, BSN, RN]

BeenThere2012 said:

Thank you so much for the information. Unfortunately, I already accepted the BRN's charges as my lawyer told.me it would.cost upwards of $40,000 to go to a hearing and he didn't think we would win. He said the BRN in my state "often" rejects the judges decision , and they are allowed to do that based upon non binding arbitration. I made an error in a med administration, but they based the severity of charges saying I didn't have the 2nd RN present at the time. I DID. She was watching me. She stated I didn't call her into the room to do the procedure. No I didn't "call" her into the room because She came into my room at the pre-designated time as PLANNED and walked with me to the pump etc...there is.even more detail here. Too long for this post....

Of course... she saved her own skin, rather than going down with you, because she absolutely would have gone down as well.... sad...

[BeenThere2012, ASN, RN]

RNOTODAY said:

Of course... she saved her own skin, rather than going down with you, because she absolutely would have gone down as well.... sad...[/quote

Yes...Thank you. It was the most stressful and frustrating thing I ever went through and still going through. I finally found a job after 15

months out of work. The Board took 6 months to assign a monitor, and then countless interviews all wanting to hire me until they knew about the probation. Plus, what I was allowed to apply for because of board restrictions, narrowed the choices to begin with. I happen to love my new specialty...never would have chosen it, but good things do sometimes come out of hardships. My pay is about half of what I used to make, though.

[Marbles1213]

I am in a similar situation. I have complied and responded to every phone call and provided information to my DON. Even took a drug test which was negative. That she says she still moving forward with the complaint to the board . So I need help, I need to know what I should do from this point ? Should I hire a lawyer ? Get malpractice insurance ? Or wait on the board to contact me ? She's attacking my livelihood and I'm scared . Assistance would be appreciated .... thank you

[KCMnurse, BSN, MSN, RN]

If you haven't already done so, find a lawyer that has experience with the Board of Nursing. It may be too late to get malpractice insurance if you don't already have it. Just because the DON says that she will contact the board does not mean that she will. Unfortunately you probably just have to wait to see if the board contacts you, most of them are notoriously slow. Nonetheless you need to be prepared for when/if they contact you. Good luck in your situation - I know how it feels.