Nope, nobody died. No patient, nor family had any complaint. And no, Davey Do, I'm not a troll, which you can see if you look at my record here.
@Hoosier_RN You wrote: "I've filled out applications that ask about license ever or currently suspended or under investigation." I've run into this. One headhunter told me: "There is a way that an employer can find out if your license is under investigation." I don't know if that is true for some states, but not for other states.
And I don't have a lawyer. I attempted to hire one but there was a conflict of interest (there were two who complained, one was a contractor) as one was in some way a client, or maybe had been, lawyers don't explain. Then I found another lawyer, who seemed excellent, and all of a sudden, "uh oh, I can't represent you, as there is a conflict of interest." (Same issue with the same contractor). Yes, that's odd, and makes me wonder what's up with that--maybe that contractor is a "repeat offender?"
So I looked and found another lawyer, again a specialist lawyer. I gave the lawyer a $2500 retainer and they started working on an answer to the complaint. A month went by, and just before the deadline, they sent me a copy. It was pathetic, full of inaccuracies (including some totally erroneous "facts," and poorly written. I fired the lawyer, then found that I had rung up a $12,500 bill. The lawyer kept my retainer and "waived" the rest.
My case has been "elevated" to my state's Attorney General's (AG) office. I was pestered by an attorney investigator to give them carte blanche access to all medical records--all, including childhood records. It was evident that the "cognitive impairment" was now the issue.
I objected but stated I was willing to let them ask my doctor (or prior doctor) "in your opinion is (my name) cognitively competent to be an RN." Over and over that attorney demanded carte blanche access and over and over I repeated that I was willing to let them ask the above sentence.
Well, the doctor queried said he'd have to have a neurocognitive exam to be conclusive. Then Covid hit, and all I got was dead air. I knew that such investigations take about a year, so after 16 months I contacted the AG and said, "c'mon you are trampling my civil rights and Covid really is not much of an excuse as most, if not all investigation could be done from a home office.
That hit home and what had happened was that the lawyer investigating me no longer works for the AG, I was "lost." I was promptly contacted by a doctor who wanted to do an interview, who supposedly specialized in addiction but also in cognitive issues. OK, I thought, and did a two-hour Zoom interview. The outcome: "You must go and have a neurocognitive exam." "Why," I asked. "Because the AG is concerned, your response was 28 pages." Yes, 28 complaints, one page for each complaint, and based on that the AG thinks I'm cognitively impaired." Btw, the cost for such an exam is $1,600. "So, I'm being forced to spend $1,600 for this exam?"
The answer: "Well, no, I'm not forcing you to do anything." "OK," I responded, "You're not 'forcing' me but if I refuse, I never get my job back?" Yup.
So I drove an hour, spent 5 hours with a PsyD. The outcome was a multi-page (lots of test results) and the statement: "“There is no evidence of cognitive impairment at a level that would predict significant difficulties functioning as a nurse.”
Recently I was told by the addiction doctor (no, I have no issues with addition, nor were any alleged) that other than the "cognitive concern," I was not under investigation.
Yet, recently a new Attorney Investigator contacted me, telling me, "You can work as a nurse." Also telling me I am under investigation. But now, what, exactly am I being investigated for?
I intend to write to the AG and ask them to please enumerate exactly what I am being investigated for, allegation by allegation, specifically. If this was not so devastatingly painful, it'd be comic.
The real kicker in all this was that two weeks after I was fired, the place closed, permanently.
In the meantime, I've plenty of time on my hands to finish my BSN but the college has banned me from doing my final capstone course because of the pending complaint.
@brandy1017 I think that is sage advice.
@Davey Do You are correct. I have seen some lose their license but it's rare. Excepting severe violations the norm is probation, education, substance treatment and usually the nurse has a valid license again. In my case though, even a minor chastisement, let's say for documenting improperly will show up FOREVER, for all to see. At my level of nursing any issue, no matter how minor will get me passed over. I'm at the top of my subspecialty having worked now for a number of major corporations (a few were GM & GE). I've been told by headhunters that any negativity related to my licenses will knock me out of a high-level job. So, I'll fight.
Thanks again to all who contributed.