Reasons to lose nursing license?

Nurses General Nursing

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Just curious what are some reasons why a nurse would lose her license or go to jail? Just curious if anyone has any stories?

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A lot of BON sites have disciplinary records online that you can browse through. From what I've seen, they usually involve drug use and/or diversion. The only personal story I know of involves a DUI. The nurse didn't loose her license for the DUI itself, but for failing to respond to the board when they contacted her about it by mail.

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Specializes in NICU.

I heard a story from an instructor that when she worked for another school, a student faked having cancer, school started a scholarship in her name, and she started working on a bone marrow transplant floor. She ended up overdosing and her friend took her to the ER and stated that she had cancer. When the ER doctor started examining her, he found that there was nothing under her bandages. Her license was suspended pending a psych evaluation. Our class happened to attend the BON hearing that involved her case. They permanently revoked her license.

Ind. nursing student faked terminal illness

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Specializes in Healthcare risk management and liability.

In my work with nurses and our state disciplinary board, the most common reasons for having a license sanctioned are (in order): diversion, theft from patients, substance use/abuse issues, quality of care issues, criminal acts and boundary violations.

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It takes a lot more to lose a license than you'll be led to believe.

Diversion is a biggie. Outside of nursing itself, our hospital once had a nurse who murdered her own children. If you aren't doing anything like that, you should be okay!

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

I worked with a nurse who faked a home visit, complete with fake assessments and forged signatures. She lost her license because she failed to show up for her hearing.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Tele, Dialysis, Hospice.

I used to work with a nurse who stole prescription pads from the nurses' station and wrote scripts for herself with forged MD signatures for opioids. She lost her license when she was discovered. I never understood why, but our hospital used to have the prescription pads just lying around in drawers, not locked up or anything. I guess it was to make things easier for the doctors, but what a risky thing to do!

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Tele, Dialysis, Hospice.
I worked with a nurse who faked a home visit, complete with fake assessments and forged signatures. She lost her license because she failed to show up for her hearing.

I'm curious how this was discovered. Did the patient call the agency and ask why they didn't get a visit that day, or was it discovered that they were in bad shape after she had facetiously documented that they were fine and stable?

I used to work home hospice. I cannot even imagine faking a visit. That is really rotten.

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Specializes in Medical-Surgical.

I'm sure you've heard about the nurse in the news recently who lost her license for taking a picture of her patient's member... So yeah, that'll do it...

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I wonder if there were any criminal charges or if she could go to jail for this?

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Specializes in Cardiology and ER Nursing.

Drugs and gross negligence

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Specializes in Critical Care.

The first time a nurse I worked with lost their license, it was a nurse who enforced a fluid restriction order despite the patient declining the restriction. She lost her license and when she left she was facing elder abuse charges, I never heard what happened with the criminal charges.

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