Good grief, will it never stop? MN nurses in assistance program?

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Specializes in ER / ICU.

Last Sept I diverted a vial of Fentanyl to use in my suicide plan, did it on camera, didn’t give a ***. Last hour of last day of work. Recruiter called husband, who stopped me from finishing the job. I’m in a compact state, and am in that state’s discipline program, so far successfully. 
I also held CA and MN licenses, let them lapse, but like a *** didn’t surrender them. Came home today to a summons from the CA Atty General regarding not notifying the CA BON about my discipline. I suspect MN will follow the same route. I never plan on nursing in CA again, so will surrender most likely, but MN could be a different matter. I have found a perfect job where when I am able to practice under a compact license again, unfortunately I would also need a MN license. I’m going to (hopefully) beat MN to a summons by notifying them of my home state discipline, but then I’m sure I’ll be subject to a separate discipline specific to MN, as I’m sure them deferring to my home state would never happen. 
Sooooo, can anyone give insight into MN’s disciplinary program?

 

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Hi, I got caught diverting in MN in 2020. Suspended my license for one year and I’m now in the process of getting it reinstated.  If they reinstate they will make me enroll in HPSP for probably like 5 damn years.  Drug tests, support meetings, quarterly employer reports.  
 

im sorry I’m not sure what happens if your diversion was in a different state.  

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Your California license will be suspended likely and your home state of MN, which is where I think you practice will suspend your license and make you go to therapy including a 6 week PHP, followed by a 6 week IOP, followed by 1 year of Aftercare. Your compact state ability will stop and you will only be allowed to practice in your home state.

1. If you surrender your California license, there is a high likelihood you may never practice nursing again in ANY state. You were in a discipline program and never reported it to the other state you were licensed in. That's a major major no no. If you commit no no number 2 by surrendering your license 9n California, then that's 2 no no's for California and you likely end up on the Federal OIG exclusion list for 5 years which means you can't work anywhere in any state as a nurse (even if MN says you can). See the thread about licensing surrenders and how dangerous this can be.

2. I recommend this.....go to rehab immediately.  Complete a 6 week PHP and 6 week IOP. Hope that California SUSPENDS your license and this way, you are not under a Cali monitoring agreement and you avoid the OIG exclusion list. This way, you are under the MN monitoring agreement only which is where you live. Additionally, you were caught on camera taking the Fentanyl and you were already in a discipline program. There is the possibility of criminal charges in the future. How do you radically decrease the chances of criminal charges? You go and complete rehab. 

3. By completing rehab, you also make a few things more likely. It's is more likely that California suspends your license and does not revoke it. A surrender I equal to a revoke. Both likely get you on an exclusion list. A suspension is what you want from Cali. You simply never renew it and you are not under a monitoring agreement. Also, your home state of MN sees rehab by you as favorable and it will allow you to get back to work quicker and likely with less restrictions in your monitoring program compared to never completing rehab. Lastly, detectives/police do work with the state boards and hospitals. Someone that gets help is far more likely to not be charged compared to someone who lawyers up and fights the process (in which they still lose 95% of the time but are out of 10 grand for a lawyer). It is one thing with limited evidence, but when clearly on camera, it's a slam dunk case for a prosecutor if they want to go that route. Therapy overwhelmingly decreases the chances of criminal charges. Not going to therapy and lawyering up makes the police/prosecutors foam at the mouth and come after you.

4. For some God unknown reason, across the USA nurses have had the following two statements Passes around for decades regarding what to do and they couldn't be further from the truth and amazingly, even in 2022, this prevailing thought still occurs and it is....

A. "Get a lawyer."

B. "Just surrender your license because you know you will never practice in that state again anyway."

It is the 2 dumbest off the cuff statements that ruins careers. You only get a lawyer if you are absolutely not guilty. You know allegations are false and you don't mess with any substances.  The second time for a lawyer is if you are criminally charged. That's it, a lawyer does zero good except for these 2 situations and getting a lawyer BEFORE you are criminally charged may actually increase your chances of being criminally charged. Again, 2 exceptions above for lawyers, otherwise you are paying 10 grand for the Exact same consequences that will occur if you would not have had a lawyer.

And of course, the ole....surrender your license. Absolutely devastating and probably worse than getting a lawyer. Could and often leads to a 5 year Federal OIG exclusion where you don't and can't work as a nurse in any state in any facility. 

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Specializes in Justice ⚖️ Nursing.

Absolutely right about the lawyer....only good for criminal aspect. If you are charged with a felony, hopefully lawyer can get knocked down to a misdemeanor. A felony =mandatory 10 year suspension of RN license + OIG exclusion list...can't work anywhere that deals with medicare and medicaid in ANY capacity (even like insurance claims, coding etc). Only thing I question is if going to rehab on your own is gonna help you, as far as retaining license and practice goes. Because the BON wants you to do THEIR program only and will only count it if it is a board approved rehab and each state has their own rules. I've seen ppl sent back into rehab and the diversion program for not allowing the BON and their programs to direct your every move. Best wishes!

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I was caught diverting narcotics from a federal facility. Was prosecuted to the fullest extent and caught a felony for larceny in a building. Nursing and APRN license suspended. Went through Michigan's HPRP program. got my license back and now practicing in my full prescriptive authority for one of the larger national health care systems. There might be some red tape you have to go through, but you will be fine. Just do what they tell you to do. cheers. 

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