Does the BON investigate every complaint?

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Family Practice.

This is probably a weird situation but I'm sure it's happened before. To make a long story short, this person in my life has a vendetta against me. This individual said all these slanderous things in Facebook messages to my family after I refused to give them a large sum of money they demanded. I also received an 'anonymous' threat that a complaint would be lodged against me with the BON but nothing came of it. I did not press charges because after I made it clear that I was not giving any money, I was left alone.

Or so I thought. Recently, after a year of no contact, this person has started with the messages again and now they are trying to find out where I work and live. I'm concerned with this escalation and I am wondering if they really will file a false complaint with the BON. Should I hire a lawyer preemptively? Does the BON require contact info for the person who is making the claim so in this case, I could say that I have evidence this person has been harassing me? Any help is appreciated.

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Specializes in Neuro, Telemetry.

Sounds like it's time to contact the police if they are doing this. It will help with leaving a paper trail in case they ever do attempt to come after you for real.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.

Exactly as Mrs. Boots said. Please keep and print the messages. Notify the police so a police report can be generated. You may qualify for an order of protection. If you have any written record of their previous demands for money they can be charged with extortion. This is currently a matter for the police; a lawyer would be of limited help at this point.

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Specializes in Family Practice.

Well the problem is twofold. This person is tied to law enforcement so I feel that they might have sway to get my complaint to go away quietly. I did contact the police initially during the first incident and I was treated rather horribly, I was made to feel that this was some 'female spat' and we needed to work it out and I was wasting the police's time. If I file for a PPO, I have to give this person my new address, my work address, and my family member's address so she can stay within a certain distance from me at all times. So obviously this totally defeats the purpose.

I guess I am more interested in how the BON handles complaints because I feel that nothing will be done for me until something actually happens, unfortunately.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

Skip the police then and go to your county prosecutor's office. All of the above advice is terrific. you need that paper trail.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.

The BON (at least in Oregon) does have to investigate every complaint. However, they are astute when it comes to people's vendettas. Please start the paper trail however you can. If anything does come from the Board, you will quickly be able to put it to bed. An investigation that turns up nothing and is promptly closed will not show up on your license in any way.

There might be one thing a lawyer can do initially: send a cease-and-desist letter. But that will start costing money. The county prosecutor's office is a better idea. Don't start spending money until you've exhausted the public safety options. But I would not lose too much sleep over the Board of Nursing at this point. Good luck.

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