Reported to BON for diversion

chare · Apr 21

When you say you've "spoken to nurse lawyers" have you retained counsel? Or was this was an initial consult only? If it was the former, in my opinion you should retain counsel; after doing so, he or she will best be able to advise your best course of action.

And again, in my opinion, it would be best not to discuss this with anyone other than your counsel and significant other.

Best wishes.

mykids02 · Apr 21

chare said:

When you say you've "spoken to nurse lawyers" have you retained counsel? Or was this was an initial consult only? If it was the former, in my opinion you should retain counsel; after doing so, he or she will best be able to advise your best course of action.

And again, in my opinion, it would be best not to discuss this with anyone other than your counsel and significant other.

Best wishes.

Yes, I have only received an initial consult but have not hired anyone yet. I was going back and forth between getting a criminal defense lawyer that specializes in BON situations or just a regular criminal lawyer. I was told by the hospital that I would be receiving a call from the attorney general and/or DEA investigator but have not yet heard anything yet.

chare · Apr 21

If it were me, I would opt for an attorney with experience in handling cases before the BON. If you are unable to locate one locally, the American Association of Nurse Attorneys might be helpful.

Again, best wishes.

Ellina Wilson, ASN · Apr 21

In my experience with talking to the lawyer, since you admitted to diverting there isn't anything they can do. So that was my $300 wasted on a consultation. IDK which state you're in, but I'm in Florida and my old job recommended I self report to IPN which is our monitoring program. They were required by law to report me to BON, but once BON got in touch with me and they knew I was already in IPN they didn't take any action against me. My license is clear with no record. Now yes the monitoring program is a pain and you're gonna have to get treatment first too. But it will all be worth it, and you won't know till you're in recovery. Best of luck

mykids02 · Apr 21

Ellina Wilson said:

In my experience with talking to the lawyer, since you admitted to diverting there isn't anything they can do. So that was my $300 wasted on a consultation. IDK which state you're in, but I'm in Florida and my old job recommended I self report to IPN which is our monitoring program. They were required by law to report me to BON, but once BON got in touch with me and they knew I was already in IPN they didn't take any action against me. My license is clear with no record. Now yes the monitoring program is a pain and you're gonna have to get treatment first too. But it will all be worth it, and you won't know till you're in recovery. Best of luck

That's a refreshing story to hear and I'm glad everything worked out for you. The HR rep did give me the number to the monitoring program but I wasn't sure if I wanted to call or speak with a lawyer first. I'm in PA and have also heard horror stories of signing up with the monitoring program and agreeing to all these stipulations that could have potentially been avoided had a legal representative been consulted and present. It's still early on in my situation but Im praying for a speedy and realistic outcome. I have no one to blame but myself for all of this so accountability has already been taken

Ellina Wilson, ASN · Apr 21

mykids02 said:

That's a refreshing story to hear and I'm glad everything worked out for you. The HR rep did give me the number to the monitoring program but I wasn't sure if I wanted to call or speak with a lawyer first. I'm in PA and have also heard horror stories of signing up with the monitoring program and agreeing to all these stipulations that could have potentially been avoided had a legal representative been consulted and present. It's still early on in my situation but Im praying for a speedy and realistic outcome. I have no one to blame but myself for all of this so accountability has already been taken

Yeah I feel like all the advice I see on here is "get a lawyer", but honestly I feel it's o oh necessary if something totally unfair happened, or there's a misunderstanding, or you're facing a much more harsher punishment than you believe to be fair, like getting involved with legal stuff. Yes the monitoring program is no fun at all, but I've come to accept that this is what my life is now. I'm trying to be positive and remind myself this is actually a second chance, nurses used to just lose their license right away, before they came up with these programs. Just know that the program's main concern is patient safety, not your well-being. I've been in it for almost a year, haven't had issues. The only thing is drug tests get expensive. I haven't got a job yet because I'm a stay at home mom (I was pregnant when I got caught. Thank goodness.) I'm waiting till she's a year old to start looking, and that's another challenge to look forward to😆

mykids02 · Apr 21

Ellina Wilson said:

Yeah I feel like all the advice I see on here is "get a lawyer", but honestly I feel it's o oh necessary if something totally unfair happened, or there's a misunderstanding, or you're facing a much more harsher punishment than you believe to be fair, like getting involved with legal stuff. Yes the monitoring program is no fun at all, but I've come to accept that this is what my life is now. I'm trying to be positive and remind myself this is actually a second chance, nurses used to just lose their license right away, before they came up with these programs. Just know that the program's main concern is patient safety, not your well-being. I've been in it for almost a year, haven't had issues. The only thing is drug tests get expensive. I haven't got a job yet because I'm a stay at home mom (I was pregnant when I got caught. Thank goodness.) I'm waiting till she's a year old to start looking, and that's another challenge to look forward to😆

Aw congrats! If anything I may just self report to the BON and leave a message for the monitoring program and wait for them to reach out to me. When you self reported was it seen as a positive outlook for accountability or did they not mention anything at all? Unfortunately for me I will need to find work to supplement income while I am going through all of this because I am a single parent. I've given it over to GOD but I am hoping that they only place med administration restrictions on my license and still let me work in like an outpatient setting or case management or something along those lines. That's why I was considering a nurse lawyer to help guide me

Ellina Wilson, ASN · Apr 21

mykids02 said:

Aw congrats! If anything I may just self report to the BON and leave a message for the monitoring program and wait for them to reach out to me. When you self reported was it seen as a positive outlook for accountability or did they not mention anything at all? Unfortunately for me I will need to find work to supplement income while I am going through all of this because I am a single parent. I've given it over to GOD but I am hoping that they only place med administration restrictions on my license and still let me work in like an outpatient setting or case management or something along those lines. That's why I was considering a nurse lawyer to help guide me

It was definitely a positive look that I self reported to the monitoring program. IDK if I would self report to the BON, I'm just not sure if there's any advantage to that or not. I just know that when BON gets in touch with you and they hear that you self reported to your monitoring program and getting help for the disease of addiction it does look positive. But be prepared for treatment because they will recommend you get evaluated and treated at a facility they work with and it will be expensive. I had to apply for credit cards and I've my dad take out a bank loan in order to complete my treatment. After treatment the monitoring starts and you can work depending on what the rehab doctor recommends. My diversion issue was also opiates, and initially I was recommended to get Vivotrol shots monthly for 2 years in place of a key restriction so I could work with narcs with no issues. However, because I'm still breastfeeding and there is no research on vivitrol passing on to baby through breast milk, I opted out of that and I have a key restriction instead. I can go back to work whenever I'm ready, but I can't work with narcs for 2 years. And everyone is different, the other nurse I went to rehab with has a key restriction AND needs to be on vivitrol. But those are just some things to think about now, because they will come up.

PaddedCellLPN, LPN · Apr 21

This was me in December. I self reported, then signed up for my ATD program 2 days after my termination. Of course, I just now did my MPE, and the doctor had 4 months of sobriety, negative follicle and Peth test to back up him not recommending any restrictions. Now mine was a one time thing due to stuff outside work, I'm not addicted, but I did it. I owned it. So far, I have a new job, doing well in the program, and waiting for the BON to decide if I can complete the ATD or if I'm going to have probation, etc.

Anything legal, like the DEA, I recommend a lawyer. I didn't speak to them.

mykids02 · Apr 21

PaddedCellLPN said:

This was me in December. I self reported, then signed up for my ATD program 2 days after my termination. Of course, I just now did my MPE, and the doctor had 4 months of sobriety, negative follicle and Peth test to back up him not recommending any restrictions. Now mine was a one time thing due to stuff outside work, I'm not addicted, but I did it. I owned it. So far, I have a new job, doing well in the program, and waiting for the BON to decide if I can complete the ATD or if I'm going to have probation, etc.

Anything legal, like the DEA, I recommend a lawyer. I didn't speak to them.

That's my concern as well. I know everything just happened so it will be a drawn out process but the hospital did say they were required to notify attorney general and dea and that they may be contacting me. It's the weekend so all I've been doing is stressing myself out but trying to keep busy and not think too much about it.