Suspended Licence

Nurses Recovery

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I received the news that my licence was suspended while getting ready for work. It was the most horrifying phone call ever. What the hell do I do now?

I struggle daily against the seemingly endless list of things that frighten me into possibly flunking a P test, probably to the extreme (sampling of apple Chardonnay sausage at Costco?) but then addiction/alcohol issues is not what landed me in this swimming sewer. I've been on psych meds for years that ermmmm....strongly suggest that one not drink while taking plus, like smoking, meh....never impressed me much. So now I have to be rabidly watchful of avoiding something I don't even like.....???? ugh. Is this nightmare over yet....

Same here. The other day I bought some frozen pepperjack mozz sticks from the grocery store.. i was so excited... when i started eating them I thought I smelled and tasted something I havent had the pleasure of in 2 years (today actually). Sure enough.. i looked at the box and it was breaded in leinenkugel (sp?) beer.... I immediately ran to the toilet and stuck my finger down my throat until i was puking blood...just to be sure! how sick is that?!!!!!!!

I was under the impression if your sample tested positive for something naughty.. the MRO would call you. That is because my friend once ate 2 poppy seed bagels and tested positive for morphine. The MRO called her, grilled her, and accepted her explanation. (it was true)

Same friend, got an email on December 15th (which she did not even read until after the 20th) from her monitor that she was suspended effective immediately. This was from a positive test for cocaine from early November. She wasnt given the chance to dispute it, no phone call, nothing. Because she didnt read her email.. she continued to work. That alone could get her revoked. She finally got the letter and called her monitor who told her Fine, we can retest it but it will cost you 288 bucks. Of course she cant afford that. She cant even afford to settle up her FirstLab account to start testing again. She has been under contract since 12' and had 1 year left. She is under board order so in this state that means a minimum of 3 month suspension in which you must comply with everything and test clean. This process takes some nurses a year.. just to get a job to pay for the testing and counseling.

Their contracts state that they are suspended indefinitely but their suspension can be stayed after 3 months of compliance, but then they must complete 5 continuous years of compliance to the contract. So.. yep.. she gets to start all over again!!! and I've seen some nurses start over and over and over and over. I saw one that has been doing this since 1986!!!!!

As far as being in the confidential program. They are a bit more forgiving, however, If i were to test positive for alcohol or illicit drugs or any of the other naughty stuff I would be kicked out of the confidential program and get a board order.

A good way to find out what has happened to others in your circumstance is to read your states board minutes and look up the orders of the nurses mentioned in the minutes. I do this to find out what kind of contracts others have gotten for different crimes and also to see how quickly others in my situation have gotten stipulations dropped. I've learned a lot by reading through other contracts!!

Thank you for that. I never thought of doing that, but I will now.

Yep there is a reason for the standard "get a lawyer" response. It seems to me that nurses in monitoring programs are in adversarial rather than therapeutic relationships with the BONs and Monitoring Boards. In an adversarial relationship the punisher tries to extract as much pain, money... from the punished which is only limited by the terms and conditions of the contract which usually include the right to a board hearing and ultimate review by the courts. The punished seeks to be subject to the least amount of pain as possible and that's where the paid advocate comes in. I wish I hired a lawyer at the start of this process. The nurses I know who did are happy with their decision. However, I thought I was entering a therapeutic relationship where my "drinking problem" would be addressed and trusted the BON to act on my behalf based on the false advertising online about my states program. I don't trust them anymore and any concession they get out me will be have to literally be beat out of me and subject to all the due process I can afford.

Lets take this example. I have no idea why this nurse failed this pee test. He says it wasn't a false positive so I guess he drank. In most recovery efforts relapse is viewed as part of the process and you pick yourself up and deal with life. With us you get a last minute phone call that you are now unemployed. You don't pick yourself up and get on with life you are punished because that's the name of the game here. That & extracting as much cash as is possible. Retribution not Recovery. Fear not Trust. If I drank and was in an actual recovery effort you would think I'd tell my therapist & PNAP Counselor first thing. That is the last thing in the universe I would consider because in truth my "nurse advocate" is a parole officer & my "therapist" is an informant so instead of breading respect for the process you get simple, stark hatred.

Specializes in OR.

Absolutely. In my leaky boat where I'm sorry, but I will not apologize for the ‘crime' of having an illness, I should not be surprised that an organization that subscribes to a mixture of power, control and downright fright as a means of pounding so-called recovery into a person also considers mental illness as some kind of crime. At the time that AA was in its infancy (anyone more familiar, please feel free to correct me, I could be wrong) when alcohol abuse was considered some kind of moral failing, mental illness was too. Well, I am not in recovery from anything. Newsflash, I'm not going to ‘recover' from an illness that I have had my entire life and will have until the day I die. I will maintain it with proper medication and therapy, but I will never ‘be in recovery' in the manner that these people define it. That, is evidence based.

These programs preach advocacy for the disease process out of one side of thier mouths and as we are all medical professionals, the respect for that knowledge attracts us to thinking that they are like minded in the idea that the sufferers want to use that knowledge to conquer the issue of addiction. Imagine the shock when we (wether mentally ill or addicted or both) get into and find that the so called advocacy is nothing more than a combonation of lying, blatant ignoring of clear scientific evidence and research, unethical, worshiping of the god of money, lazy provider, and use of outdated treatment modalities. All of this (and some other spices) creates a culture of fear.

I have to wonder how much of that fear contributes to the level of stress that can cause a person in the position of the OP to relapse in the first place. Not knowing the details behind this, I can't muse much more, but I can say that the frustration of dealing with the stupidity of the program is a large part of why I am choosing to not be employed for the rest of my contract. I don't want them between me and my employer. Period.

I helped the aids out tonight. The most back breaking but rewarding thing i have done in awhile!

YAY!!! I'm glad you are working!!!!

Does anyone know if you get to keep your FMLA once your license is suspended? Or since it's usually part of your contract, do you get terminated and then have no way to pay for your drug tests, etc?

I have to pay out of pocket for my tests. Insurance won't cover it as it is not part of a treatment plan related to a diagnosis of a medical provider but rather a monitoring plan imposed by a professional organization to keep your nursing license.

Specializes in OR.

I deduct the out of pocket costs of P tests off of my taxes as ‘unreimbursed medical expenses.' Yeah, I know this is the last year I'll be able to do that, not going there.... Anyway, in searching for the documentation on Affinity, One time I found a version of the individual test record that said ‘Insurance Reimbursement Request' at the top. The catch was , no CPT code (that would identify what was being tested for anyway) and no dr's order. So any insurance company would kick it right back and refuse payment for it. Besides, I'm am pretty sure that any insurance company would pay Quest or Labcorp far less than what we are gouged for out of pocket.

That one probably fueled the rumor of "oh doesn't your insurance pay for those P tests?" That would be a no. I've also not been able to find that form this year. I wonder if it disappeared after someone discovered the absurdity of its very existence. I'm not going to bother asking about it. I suspect I'll be told "what form??" Very Orwellian, yes?

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