Just lost my RN license

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Hi all,

a few years ago I was arrested for a misdemeanor crime and was convicted after a year of fighting it. The BRN here in california caught wind of it even before I was able to self report myself. While I was in jail the board sent out a letter to my house about an accusation regarding my conviction. I was in jail for 20 days. I immediately filed a notice of defense and prepped for an administrative hearing. I got an attorney and went to the hearing with letters, psych evals, and even a forensic psychiatric eval in hand. Long story short, the board took away my license because they said that any good that I've done so far has been during my criminal probation and that it did not show true rehabilitation. This is the first time I have ever been in ANY kind of trouble. I am lost. I got caught up in a situation that I should have never been in in the first place. Now i have to wait 3 years before I can even get my license back. I am currently off probation, my record has been expunged and am doing well. Still going to see my psych and going to group meetings. I was wondering if it would be possible to apply for an RN license in another state other than CA and show them what Ive done since. I do not intend to lie about anything and would like to get another chance at working as a nurse. I am a great nurse and my crime had nothing to do with the job. I was thinking of Oregon but Im not even sure if this would be possible. If anyone with a similar type of situation has any information I would deeply appreciate it.

Thank you all for your time to listen to me rant.

-regretful4mrRN

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

All states reciprocate with one another, and will do a background check as well and communicate with any BON you have been connected with. This is an awful situation to be in. I suspect you might have to find other work in the interim. Keep up with your recovery as you deserve a more peaceful life regardless of whether or not you practice nursing. Good luck.

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Specializes in 1st year Critical Care RN, not CCRN cert.

Terribly sorry for your situation but everyone reading this message should take it to heart. If you have an incident with the police/jail, report it without waiting. The board will find out and by the time they find out there will be zero mercy because they found out and you didn't tell them

Good luck and I hope you can get back to wrk soon

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Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.

have no idea, but if I were you, I would keep my education current if you cannot get back to nursing right away. Take some courses and keep educating yourself.

Good luck and I hope things work out for you.

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

Unfortunately, when you apply for endorsement, all state BONs will ask if you have had disciplinary action at the hands of another BON. In addition, most state BONs will require you to report expunged records. And as classicdame said, BONs do talk among themselves. So yes, you'd have to be completely honest with Oregon because it's very likely they will find out on their own once they have your application in hand.

Not knowing what your crime was (and not wanting to know), I would like to hope that what happened to you in California doesn't automatically mean a denial of license in Oregon, and that you'd at least have the chance to explain to Oregon what happened. All I can suggest is that if/when you apply to Oregon or any other state, that you keep that lawyer involved in the process from step 1.

Best of luck to you.

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Specializes in HH, Peds, Rehab, Clinical.

I'm curious to know what "misdemeanor crime" means doing 20 days in jail?! Maybe I'm in a very lenient state....

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Colleen--In CA if you are arrested due to a misdemeanor and can't bail then you do minimum jail time up to 90 depending on the crime I believe.

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