What if your doctor or nurse had a criminal record?

Nurses Safety

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  1. Md's and RNs' with criminal records: Should they be allowed to practice?

    • 42
      Depends on the charge
    • 0
      I don't really care if they do
    • 4
      NO! under any circumstances
    • 3
      Yes! everyone deserves a break.

49 members have participated

Wondering how people feel about this. I am talking about felonies, etc not traffic tickets violations.

Do you think that by allowing this, we are doing our profession more harm than good?.

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Great question! I'll be curious to see what people say.

I work with this issue in my work situation. Our policy is that "it depends on the charge, how long ago it was, whether the person takes responsibility for it, how the person has acted sinced, etc." I think that is the best strategy.

For example, imagine a person, imagine a person who is becomes involved with the wrong crowd as a teenager ... or gets drunk ... etc. and at the age of 18 committs a crime that is non-violent. Pleads guilty, accepts the punishment, and turns her life around. 15 years later, she is a mother who teaches Sunday school, active in PTA, etc. -- and totatlly ashamed of what she did BRIEFLY in her youth. We treat that person very differently than the person who only 2 years ago committed a violent crime.

We look at each case individually and make a decision. Though ... as a children's hospital, we don't hire anyone with a history of any crimes against children.

llg

Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

If it wasn't serious enough for them to loose their license to practice, I would have to consider their private life private. Most hideous felonies would cause them to loose their license.

Also depends on how long ago it was. I'm a firm believe that people change, through Grace and divine intervention sometimes, and don't deserve to be prisoners of their past.

I answered "depends on the charge". Honesty, integrity, and playing by the rules are qualities I demand in a health care provider.

I also think it should depend on the charge and the person the felon has tried to become since time served.

Even adults make reallly stupid mistakes and those are rearely truly violent crimes even though the court may define them as such.

There is the case of the spouse who retaliates in an untimely fashion to the violence of the other spouse (notice I kept this open either way, yes, it does happen!) The court of law may not have seen it as a result of abuse, but abuse it may well have been that brought out the crime. When removed from the situation, these people are rarely violent people, but they have a violent felony on their record.

You also have cases of teen boys or young adults who go to jail for raping a minor, in this day and age, the difference between 13 and 16 is often hard to tell! none-the-less, it is a violent felony.

There are so many exceptions to the "violent felony" exclusion that to exclude these people as a group is not believing in our system of time served = clean slate. However, I am not so stupid to think that everyone who serves their time is innocent now. If it did, there wouldn;t be so many repeat offenders!

Several local physicians here have criminal records. YIKES!!!! And yes, I would rather one take care of me in a pinch that some of the ones with lilly white records. None of these crimes were medical in nature, mostly gambling and some divorce stuff. So sure I would allow a doctor with a criminal record take care of me and family. :chair:

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