Pre-employment question about monitoring

[elgin1962]

Nearly 19 years ago I attempted suicide with meds I acquired from my job as an RN. I subsequently checked myself into a psych unit after being terminated as I felt this was my best chance to get the help I needed and maintain my nursing licensure. I subsequently was reported to the BON who put me on probation for a period of 2 years which I successfully completed. This consisted of group therapy and random DSUA and a quarterly written report by my supervisor. Since then I've had no other issues besides this isolated incident. However I now have been offered a terrific new position with a hospital out of state and am expected to fill out a pre-employment health history form with a follow-up phone call with an employee health nurse tomorrow. One of the questions I've never seen before puts me in a really difficult predicament. The question is "have you ever been in a monitoring program?" I am assuming this refers to a chemical dependancy type of monitoring and in my case, although it did involve drugs, it did not have anything to do with addiction. This was a one time incident but I was put on probation by the BON in my home state for 2 years and that was completed in '96.

However in spite of this questionnaire supposedly being an employee health file and separate from my HR file, I have no faith whatsoever that this will stay confidential. I'm not asking for legal advice, I am just asking what most nurses would do in my shoes when it comes to answering a question so remote in time and which had nothing to do with addiction. I am not one to lie but am afraid that telling about this will jeopardize my employment if I am seen as too big of a risk. I realize I have to answer questions about this in order to complete the background check for licensure endorsement. I am expecting a call any day now from the BON where I have applied for licensure. There is no question whether I have to disclose this with the board, that's a no-brainer.

I've never been asked to disclose this information before on a pre-employment physical form and feel very uncomfortable opening this can of worms especially if there was no way the hospital could verify it one way or the other. The attempted suicide was so remote in time that I wonder how relevant it is now to my health except to red flag my file should anything come up as suspicious in the future. I am concerned that my history will be revealed somehow later and then I'll find myself without a job. Either way, it feels like I was already punished enough and shouldn't have to disclose something that was long ago resolved and put to bed. Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.