SC Nursing Board Abuses Power & Authority

Published

The nursing board of South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulations (SC LLR) is drunk with power, there is no oversight of the boards actions. SC LLR has been violating state laws, court orders, the U.S. Constitution, the SC Constitution, State and federal laws since at least 1999. They have engaged in abuse of process, abuse of authority, abuse of power, refusing to follow due process all in an effort to wield their tarnished sword of authority.

In a Court order of 1999, Girgis vs SC LLR (http://www.scalc.net/_old/ij/990223_1.htm) they simply refused to follow the court's order to reinstate Dr. Girgis' medical license immediately without any restrictions or conditions... stating, words to the effect, we are not subject to the jurisdiction of the courts. Subsequently, an contempt of court was issued fining all of the boards members $500.00 per day until the good doctors license was reinstated. Did this stop their unlawful activity? No! SC LLR and the state nursing board continues to engage in unlawful activity which violates the states laws, U.S Constitution, the SC state Constitution.

In the latest incident brought to my attention the investigators or SC LLR appeared, unannounced, at a nurses apartment, virtually kicking the door down to deliver a license suspension. Their actions and behavior remind me of the Nazi Gestapo.The victim had no previous knowledge of the action that was brewing at the nursing board. She was not sent, as required by law, any initial complaint of any allegations, was never afforded a hearing and upon asking "what this is about" was told by the investigator who appeared at the door "I'm not going to tell you!" In addition he stated, "You will never know who filed the complaint"

Here a just a few of the laws violated in this incident:

Violated S.C.Code of Laws 1-23-370©

Nurse Practice Act:

SECTION 40-33-5.

SECTION 40-33-1330. Actions by licensing board against licensee.

SECTION 40-33-110. Grounds for discipline of licensees.

Section 40-33-930. 91-19. Procedure for Disciplinary Hearings.

SECTION 40-33-116. Mental or physical examinations; consent to submit; review hearing; admissibility of medical records.

40-33-935, Code of Laws of South Carolina

SC LLR obviously needs oversight, they can not function lawfully without strict oversight. SC LLR and all of the boards that belong to this agency need a serious and thorough investigation into all of their unlawful activities, all of the members of the nursing board need to be sanctioned and held accountable for their actions, and perhaps dismissed from their offices. Other states nursing boards may need to have strict oversight as well.

Laws need to be changed in order to prevent future reckless and malicious actions. Strict guidelines need to be imposed and every proposed action needs to be carefully reviewed prior to them charging off to ruin peoples lives and livelihood.

In order to initiate these necessary changes all of the nurses in South Carolina and every state need to unite and call for strict state and federal laws and regulations before they too fall victim to this sort of malicious behavior.

In the words of Pastor Martin Niemöller:

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out--because I was not a communist;

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--because I was not a trade unionist;

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--because I was not a Jew;

Then they came for the Nurses and Doctors, and I did not speak out--because I was not a Nurse or Doctor; (line added)

Then they came for me--and there was no one left to speak out for me.

So if you have been a victim of malicious activity by a nursing board or medical board by any state let me hear from you. Speak out and help us affect change!

This first step in affecting any change is to make these malicious unlawful activities public. The public needs to know what nurses and doctors are up against any why this is one reason for the shortage of nurses and doctors in the U.S. Simply stated, nurses are also burnt out from being falsely accused, persecuted and unjustly prosecuted.

If you have been a victim of SC LLR's abuse please write to your local representative and let him know, this behavior needs to be changed! Heck , even write to your US Senators and Representatives and ask them for federal legislation to alleviate this behavior. The fact that there is a group of compact states should place this under federal regulation. I know we say that the Federal government is too big, but obviously, the local state agency can not handle the power and authority given to them. There definitely needs to be a watch dog of this agency!

I agree.

The danger, though, would be in making any assumption that the ever more intrusive(and costly$$$) measures being put into place---in CA at least----are somehow only going to be applicable to 'those' nurses....wink-wink....whoever they are...

(not saying you, Elkhart, are making that assumption)

The trend is a little unsettling but to each their own. Forewarned is forearmed and all that.

The info is out there to research----ignorance of process is certainly @ your own peril

I'm not making any assumptions -- just keeping in mind how often we hear stories here of how awful and mean and unfair X agency/school/instructor was to someone, and, as the story progresses, it turns out there was quite a bit more to the story than we were originally told.

For any nurse who was made to sign away her rights to take action against the BOn in your State: I would consult an attorney about this, and question the legality of it.

Just because they made you sign this, doesn't mean that it cannot be revoked or challenged. This is like when you sign a consent for surgery or a procedure. If there was negligwnce involved, you can probably still sue for malpractice. You never sign away your rights if there was negligence.

Just because you were made to sign something don;t think that it cannot be fixed. It just has not been challenged. JMHO and my NY $0.02.

Lindarn, RN,BSN,CCRN

Spokane, Washington

Don't believe you have nothing to worry about just because you have a "clean record". Mine was spotless until I was wrongfully terminated and without due process by 4 malicous people. The hospital used this false information to report me to the state nursing board so I couldn't come back and sue them. Their investigation was a joke. I had 5 people(witnesses) sign affidavids that the info was untrue and several other coworkers write character letters. The board is made up of power hungry witches who want you to bow down at their feet to thank them for allowing you to have a license. I even had an attorney who was blown away by the way the case was handled. They force you sign a consent order admitting guilt so they can humiliate you and extort you for thousands of dollars in fines. The consent order also makes you sign away your right to privacy. The psych profiles cost you $700 for them to tell you there is nothing wrong with you-obviously everyone is in on the extorsion. You can only use board appointed shrinks. If you don't sign the consent order, they will take your license and your ability to make a living. Any experience with the board is a nightmare! There is something wrong with a system that can extort money from you and punish you for heresay. There was not one shred of evidence in my case-pure heresay and my reputation has now been permanently damaged as they report you to a national data base as well where other boards can obtain this information. Disgusting-I wrote my governer but received no response....sad

It was the same way in Michigan but there is now a class action lawsuit. I have given up on nursing. Although, the lawyer I spoke with, who is part of the class action lawsuit did say things have changed dramatically. I may give it one more shot!

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