Nurse defense lawyer

[mississippiRN71]

From experience have any of you hired a nurse defense lawyer and had a better outcome than if you wouldn't have had one-  even if you are guilty of what you have been accused of?  Thanks in advance 

[Healer555]

What are you hoping to accomplish? Where are you in the process? Have you been offered a monitoring agreement?

[mississippiRN71]

I haven't been offered one yet,  I was just reported 3 weeks ago 

[Healer555]

mississippiRN71 said:

I haven't been offered one yet,  I was just reported 3 weeks ago 

What did you do? Criminal charges? State?

[mississippiRN71]

Diversion of 1 narcotic,  However, my drug screen was negative 

[Healer555]

mississippiRN71 said:

Diversion of 1 narcotic,  However, my drug screen was negative 

You're probably going to be offered a monitoring agreement. Length depends on the state where you live. If you didn't confess a lawyer may have gotten you out of it. From reading here for the past few years, I'd hold off on a lawyer in the event you aren't offered a monitoring agreement. But I didn't do anything illegal and was reported to the money program not the board.

[mississippiRN71]

Thank you for responding. I just feel like I need a lawyer since it was something illegal. even though it was just one pill, it's diversion and that's illegal . I confessed to it because I just knew my drug screen would pop up positive, but it didn't.  I've always heard honesty is the best policy so I thought I was doing the right thing

[Healer555]

mississippiRN71 said:

Diversion of 1 narcotic,  However, my drug screen was negative 

You can always consult with a lawyer. 

[allnurses Admin Team]

Admin note, as several posts have been edited or removed:

Members may not provide legal advice. That includes suggestions on how to answer questions from legal or law enforcement personnel.

Thank you.

[Zootopia81]

From my experience I hired a lawyer immediately as soon as I was notified from the board but before an investigator contacted me. I knew the generalized complaint, but I didn't know the extent and the lawyer was able to file paperwork to get a more concrete reason for the complaint. The lawyer helped me put together a mitigation package and prepped me for possible questions from the investigator. But even with all that I was not prepared for the investigative interview. It was shocking whether you're innocent or guilty. You feel the need to defend yourself and could inadvertently say things that you aren't able to take back and having that lawyer there was so beneficial. Even after the investigative interview, I still wasn't sure which way it would go, but months later, I received the notice that the complaint was dismissed. Though I was innocent I do believe that I would not have been able to properly articulate myself to the investigator and possibly had a different outcome so all that to say....get a lawyer now. make sure you do your research before you hire an attorney because not all attorneys specialize in dealing with licensing issues. And as a commentor mentioned before about following this thread for years, we've all read stories about nurses hiring the first or cheapest lawyer, who did not have a clue how to deal with the nursing board and it normally did not work out well for them.