DUI and Arizona Board of Nursing-try not to worry

The purpose of this post is to provide some reassurance to anyone having to go before the AZ BON for a DUI.

A while back a made the decision to drive my car after drinking alcohol. I was punished by courts, went to tent city for 48 hours, humiliated, shamed, paid a lot fines and lawyer fees. I deserved everything I got-I was 100% guilty. Then I had to answer to the BON. I had read all the horror stories on this site and a few other about the process and the witch hunters at the AZ BON. I will tell you the process was not easy and the issue is not the board members but the investigator for the board. My investigator was not a peer (RN) was very cruel, judgmental, unprofessional and very manipulative. Much like a police interrogation you see on TV my investigator told me lies to try and manipulate me into signing a confession that I was an alcoholic, needed to be on probation for a year, attended a nurse addiction support group and have random drug and alcohol screenings despite never being trouble with the judicial system (not even as a kid) and hadn't had a speeding ticket in 17 years. She said things like Ive seen people like you before and you are in denial, you will be in trouble again, you have a disease etc. She manipulated my words and took things out of context. The best thing I did was get another lawyer to deal with the just the BON. This stopped the harassing emails and face to face interactions between me and the investigator. She could only communicate with my lawyer. My lawyer had dealt with her in the past and gave me the full scoop on her.

He also told me the truth about the members that sit on the BON and that they didn't want to take my license or intentionally cause me any additional problems. I finally felt like I had some control of an out of control situation.

The invaluable piece in all this is the BON will demand that you are seen by a addiction psychologist. The board provides you with a list and you pick whomever you want. My lawyer knew all of the addictionologist. We went down the list- he said 'this one thinks everyone is an alcoholic, this one thinks all women are closet drinkers, this one is fair etc...This is EXTREMELY important because the investigator can give their opinion which I was told is the finally decision by my investigator BUT ITS NOT! The BON nursing goes with the evaluation of the professional licensed psychologist! With this being said the interview with the psychologist and testing is 4 hours. You have to take a huge multiple choice personality test and be interviewed. It will sniff out if you are hiding something or lying-its over 300 questions long.

Looking back on this I should have hired a lawyer to just deal with the BON (the investigator) right from the start. Its worth every penny. Here is my best advice. As simple as this sounds tell the truth. As ugly as it sounds and mine was! Don't try to justify your actions own them. Keep to just the facts and keep it simple. You chose to drink and drive. It doesn't matter what everyone else does it only matters what you do. If you do have an issue-no worries just deal with it :)

I hope this helps someone to be confident and take control of their lives and the situation at hand :) Please feel to private message me if you need more help. Ive been there-