Seeking advice/information

Nurses Recovery

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I hope I am posting this in the best spot, I was hoping many of you would be able to offer insight on this for me to pass on to a friend. (this may get long)

I am seeking advice for a coworker. Long story short she is experiencing some serious work place bullying. I technically oversee her and have gone to my management to address the issue to which they replied "some personalities just dont mesh"

Quick background: My coworker does not drink, never touched any sort of drug/narcotic in her entire life (never even tried smoking). She can count on one hand the number of times shes had a few sips of wine and has never had a DUI. I'm trying to be vague about our work environment just to keep my post more confidential....but we only have to work 9 months out of the year-the other three months she spends doing missions work in other countries. Yes, I know addiction can affect anyone but I'm just trying a paint a background. We also work in a medical environment where med diversion is near impossible (we dont have a pyxis machine etc, we are not handling narcotics).

So last week she receives a letter stating that she is being reported for possible illicit drug use. It was multiple pages giving her the option to confess and enroll into their program, have an evaluation etc. She was completely caught of guard obviously and called me hysterical. I had no answers or advice for her but I told her do not sign anything you need to talk to someone first. We have also come to the conclusion that this is an act of defamation through someone in our work place. In the letter she saw she is assigned a 'case worker' who she called and this individual had no clue the accusations being held against my coworker and told her she has to schedule an intake phone call through our states nurse peer assistance program to find out what is going on. To me that does not sound right as she does not need to enroll into a program. I also think it is BS that she has to pay out of pocket for possible drug tests/evaluations when there is no proof that she is using anything. She has a phone call scheduled for today but now that I'm doing more reading I'm wondering if she should be calling some where else? Do you call the BON to get answers? When she briefly spoke to an individual from the assistance program they told her she'd need letters of recommendation from 3 individuals etc. This poor woman can not catch a break, she has no money for a lawyer either--should she be seeking legal advice?

Any sort of advice I can give to her?? Thank you!!

Specializes in Pediatrics, Pediatric Float, PICU, NICU.
2 hours ago, Mergirlc said:

I'm not at all familiar w/ the whole recovery/diversion process, but if your friend is, indeed, not guilty of diverting....couldn't she go and pay a lab on her own dime to draw up a drug test for her to clear her name?

There are people who divert medications but do not take the medications themselves and either give them to loved ones or sell them. This was the case of a good work friend of mine years ago who I would have never thought would have been guilty of the accusation but was. You never know what someone is going through, what they are capable of, etc.

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1 hour ago, JadedCPN said:

There are people who divert medications but do not take the medications themselves and either give them to loved ones or sell them. This was the case of a good work friend of mine years ago who I would have never thought would have been guilty of the accusation but was. You never know what someone is going through, what they are capable of, etc.

Ah, got it. Didn't even think of that possibility.

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Update: No progress made other than she is now working with an attorney. She wants this resolved quickly but the problem is they refuse to tell her the date the complaint was filed and refuse to tell her what the exact allegations were--which isn't that a right to know what you are being accused of and when?? I mean when criminals are arrested they are immediately informed of what they are being arrested for! She spoke to both the peer assistance program coordinator and her 'caseworker' through the state--and both refuse to tell her so she is going to have her attorney attempt to find out. Shes given up on the cost issue and just wants to get the necessary drug testing done so she can move on (the drug test can be any where from 50-150$--depending if they request urine, blood, or hair) and then they said she needs an 'evaluation' that can be up to 300$ out of pocket. The thing is she needs to find out if her nursing insurance will help her with any of this and the insurance company said they can't until they know the date this report was filed--why is the state being so difficult and refusing to tell her?? She panicked and told our employer who was very supportive and offered to write multiple letters of recommendation for her. We've worked in an environment for the past 4 years that does not deal with any controlled medication so med diversion in the work place setting is not possible

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Pediatric Float, PICU, NICU.
16 minutes ago, Nurse2007 said:

Update: No progress made other than she is now working with an attorney. She wants this resolved quickly but the problem is they refuse to tell her the date the complaint was filed and refuse to tell her what the exact allegations were--which isn't that a right to know what you are being accused of and when?? I mean when criminals are arrested they are immediately informed of what they are being arrested for! She spoke to both the peer assistance program coordinator and her 'caseworker' through the state--and both refuse to tell her so she is going to have her attorney attempt to find out. Shes given up on the cost issue and just wants to get the necessary drug testing done so she can move on (the drug test can be any where from 50-150$--depending if they request urine, blood, or hair) and then they said she needs an 'evaluation' that can be up to 300$ out of pocket. The thing is she needs to find out if her nursing insurance will help her with any of this and the insurance company said they can't until they know the date this report was filed--why is the state being so difficult and refusing to tell her?? She panicked and told our employer who was very supportive and offered to write multiple letters of recommendation for her. We've worked in an environment for the past 4 years that does not deal with any controlled medication so med diversion in the work place setting is not possible

You seem way too invested, or this is actually about you and not your "friend." If this is indeed actually about a friend, I think it is time you step back and let it go as this is none of your business at all. And at the end of the day no matter how close you think you are and how well you think you know your friend, you don't. Don't get wrapped and tangled up in this too.

Another thing you need to realize is that diversion is not exclusively limited to narcotics, so yes diversion in the work place is still possible.

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Maybe I am from a friend stand point of moral support...BUT I'm just her outlet to talk to and I can't help but wonder why cant she be told what this is about? Like that I dont understand so I was hoping someone here can shed light on that. As far as anyone knows in our personal life I do not know anything-shes told our employers and an attorney (did not even tell the employers I knew)--dont know who her lawyer is or what they talked about...I even refused to write her a letter of recommendation to help clear her name (the peer assistance program was telling her she needs this) because I do not want my name on any of it. Please understand I am not pursuing anything other than experiences from other individuals (which I know can vary greatly based upon each individuals personal report) but any light can be shed on the process of what to expect and why it is happening this way. We have zero experience with this. I guess in reality this post is more about what if I was in her shoes?? At this point if she is completely innocent and this is a true malicious act of someone trying to go after her license there is a real possibility it can happen to anyone and that terrifies me so now I'm more curious over what if I was in her place (I can vouch for myself I have never done anything regarding illegal substances/diversion of meds etc). Its more of a curiosity thing at this point--like why wont they give her any information? Is there a rule with that? Thats all--I said in my original post my hands were washed of it and they seriously are this is just my brain turning with the information she spills to me when she gets upset.

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Specializes in ED RN and Case Manager.

@Nurse2007

To specifically answer your question-

When I received my letter from the BON, notifying me of an active investigation, it did specifically state that this was prompted by a report by my employer, the specific infractions being investigated & the date of those infractions. My employer had written a summary of concerns & this was included in my letter of notification back in 2014.

This was in Kentucky. I don’t know if other states do this differently. However, the information that your friend is seeking was included in my letter from the KY BON.

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I'm pretty sure that insurance will pay for none of the testing

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Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
16 hours ago, SpankedInPittsburgh said:

I'm pretty sure that insurance will pay for none of the testing

I was able to get most of my testing written off on my taxes as a business/career expense!?

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That was indeed a good move!!!

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Specializes in ICU/community health/school nursing.
On 12/11/2019 at 7:36 AM, Nurse2007 said:

Update: No progress made other than she is now working with an attorney. She wants this resolved quickly but the problem is they refuse to tell her the date the complaint was filed and refuse to tell her what the exact allegations were--which isn't that a right to know what you are being accused of and when?? I mean when criminals are arrested they are immediately informed of what they are being arrested for! She spoke to both the peer assistance program coordinator and her 'caseworker' through the state--and both refuse to tell her so she is going to have her attorney attempt to find out. Shes given up on the cost issue and just wants to get the necessary drug testing done so she can move on (the drug test can be any where from 50-150$--depending if they request urine, blood, or hair) and then they said she needs an 'evaluation' that can be up to 300$ out of pocket. The thing is she needs to find out if her nursing insurance will help her with any of this and the insurance company said they can't until they know the date this report was filed--why is the state being so difficult and refusing to tell her?? She panicked and told our employer who was very supportive and offered to write multiple letters of recommendation for her. We've worked in an environment for the past 4 years that does not deal with any controlled medication so med diversion in the work place setting is not possible

Your friend needs to immediately cease all communications and have her lawyer do the talking. I am certain that when the lawyer asks for the info all will become more clear....

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Yeah I gotta say when I got in trouble with pnap. I knew exactly what I was in trouble for. I don’t know if you are getting the whole story. I also advise that you put some distance between you and this situation. At this point the only person the accused nurse should be talking to is her lawyer and doing what they say. Anything you know can be asked in an investigation and you maybe faced with the choice of telling a truth you know that puts your friend in a bad light or lying to the BON. I’d back off

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