Any actual success with attorney?

Nurses Recovery

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I had posted previously about self-disclosing to the BON (like an idiot) while applying for licensure. Got application withdrew so I could focus on school and not have to take on financial hardship. Figured out can't bridge without license.

Called a BON investigator (the only one that was slightly informative and got my application withdrew). He informs me that I would have to complete an evaluation (period. If wanting a license). I call the two board approved places. No payment options, and 2800 dollars. And wth is a 5 day evaluation anyway? I have a kid! Is this some in patient crap they are talking about? He also informed me that typically VDAP is a one time offer (what?). So, I didn't jump on that train it's gone now?

I guess my question is. Has anyone (I dont care what state you are in, i personally am in Alabama) had any success in getting stipulations/consent order lessened with an attorney? Because now, I have been dealt too much different information.... and too little information from this Board.

I was tired of sitting still, stuck after making so much progress and working so hard. And I was just going to let them stick it to me. Because always that way I do what they want, and I GET TO BE a nurse.

That "non-optional" 2800 dollar hit me though. And now I wonder if a lawyer could actually make any difference. So I'd have to have atleast 5 grand for a lawyer. On top of a back up 2800 for evaluation in case I couldn't get out of that and 1000 for monitoring.

Any one had any luck with a lawyer getting this one size fits all into something lessened?

Yours truely,

Hopeless and Stupid in Alabama

Reading some of these posts made me think of how these programs could actually do some good and probably operate as intended. It seems to me that the cornerstone of any therapeutic relationship is trust and feeling safe in opening up. If a nurse with addiction issues could be referred to an appropriate professional and could undergo confidential treatment with a treatment plan tailored to their needs I think some good could be done. I think that fact that so many are stuck in a one sized fits all program predicated on punishment destroys just about any chance of an actual therapeutic relationship occurring and thus any real treatment taking place. I don't trust the process or the players in it so I haven't bought into anything. I think this is a shame as we spend so much time in these programs. They act much like a prison sentence whereas those sentenced simply do what they have to in order to get through the sentence and very little is done to change any thinking or behaviors.

Specializes in OR.
Thank you all. I have also found alot of people talking about their experiences on an Indeed forum. I have still not found anyone with an experience in facing the board with an attorney at their side. I'm officially freaking out, because now I am afraid I will have to complete some sort of treatment that I do not need, and cannot afford. Just because they can do that to me and it feeds the machine. I am really feeling hopeless. My daughter was my motivation all the way through the program. Now i look at her and it breaks my heart. I'm scared I'll never be able to provide for her and will always be nothing more than a waitress. (I'm not dissing servers. It's just I wanted to be able to provide my daughter with stability, a better life, insurance, not have to depend on anyone else for anything , and demonstrate to her that with hard work she can do absolutely anything).

I don't see you as dissing servers and I am not dissing the folks I work with at my retail job. Most of my co-workers are actually rather fun, decent people. It's just this is what I did while I was in college (ironically for the same company too) and it was never what I saw as my life's work. I always said I wanted to do something that mattered to others, that not just anyone could do.

"Just because they can and it feeds the machine" is an incredibly powerful and accurate description of this whole mess. Powerful, accurate and sad. Sigh.

Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).

Do not! I repeat Do not go before the BON without talking to an attorney familiar with professional practice issues. Whatever you pay them will be small change compared to what a monitoring program costs. Contact TAANA Executive Office - Home and get a referral in your state.

Good luck and godspeed

Hppy

Yeah $5000 is a ton of money. But I've lost many multiples of that amount by being in a monitoring program. I thought these things were here to help nurses so I voluntarily self-reported without counsel. I wouldn't make that mistake again

Wow, I guess I was super fortunate in my situation. First off, I was definitely a legit drug addict, so if anyone should have been strapped with a long evaluation, it should have been me. That being said, I abused a weird drug that wasn't controlled, so I did have nothing to detox from. I really just confused them.

I was already plugged into a shrink when I was reported, so they let me keep him. For my drug evaluation, I was able to chose my evaluator...however, she happened to be an approved evaluator. I think I just stumbled into good luck there.

She was affiliated with an inpatient and an IOP program. She recommended IOP, which I had to do for 9 months. They did let me drop one of the IOP days a week around the 6 month mark. Each day was a specialist copay, so it was still pricey, but much cheaper than a prolonged inpatient stay.

I am now in an "aftercare" group, which meets much less frequently and it is just a primary care copay per visit. I have to do the aftercare until my 5 years are done.

Now, I did have to Cobra my insurance for a long time, so that was super expensive. But the treatment cost could have been so much worse.

I think I didn't get hit with inpatient because my drug of abuse was so weird. Everybody said that they had never heard of someone abusing it. They just didn't know what to do with me.

But ultimately, my evaluation was only a 1 hour meeting with a licensed substance abuse counselor, so just a primary care copay. I didn't realize how fortunate I was at the time, and now I just count myself lucky for dodging that bullet. She recommended IOP.

It makes zero sense why someone would need a 5 day evaluation period. If they were truly a traditional addict or alcoholic, that time would best be spent in a real detox situation, not in talk-centered rehab.

I cannot fathom what a 5 day eval is going to tell you. Heck, even a 2 day eval should tell you all you need to know about how addicted a person may or may not be. I'm in graduate school now to get my LSATP (licensed substance abuse treatment practitioner) and I've never heard of a 5 day eval being offered to a regular Joe Blow. In my studies, we've done a 5 day detox on patients prior to treatment, but never just for the sake of an evaluation. Or rather, I should say that none of the programs I've worked with as a student counselor have done that kind of evaluation. It does sound like a gimmick to get someone to agree to long term rehab, to be honest.

I'm rambling now, but as someone just burgeoning into the field of being a substance abuse provider, even I can see that smells of trying to trick someone into long term treatment. Yet, if that is the only way to get into a monitoring program, shoot, I have no idea what a person can do other than to play along.

That's awful and I'm so sorry for you nurses who were coerced into treatment that way.

Also in Alabama...

Where did you go for your evaluation? Did you have to do inpatient? The more info I'm finding, the more it looks as though EVERY approved facility to do evaluations only has inpatient options for their healthcare provider programs.

My understanding Bradford only does an inpatient program. UAB can do either IOP or inpatient.

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