Sigh.....Suspension

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Good morning, can someone help, license is suspended, im currently not working, have the opportunity to respond to the BON within 25 days, would it be a better to self report to the monitoring program before I respond back to them and let them know im enrolling to show sobriety or wait for a consent order. I have so many questions like if the monitoring program grants me safe to work will the BON agree? How long does it takes to get reinstated? Most of what im reading is that a lot of nurse's self-reported and was still able to work but under probation terms, where as im suspended and trying to start working again. If any insight please help.

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If your license is suspended, self-reporting to the monitoring program can sometimes help demonstrate accountability and commitment to recovery, but the BON still has to approve reinstatement before you can practice. Most monitoring programs work alongside the board, not in place of them.

Usually, nurses who enter voluntarily (before discipline or as part of reinstatement) are viewed more favorably. The monitoring program may support your return to safe practice once you've met their criteria (like evaluations, treatment, or testing), but you'd still need to go through the BON process to lift the suspension.

You could anonymously contact your state's alternative-to-discipline program directly as they'll tell you the best path for reinstatement and whether joining now would help your case (I am sure it will).

Wishing you strength and taking this step shows responsibility, and many nurses successfully return to practice through these programs.

 

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The CLOCK that few People Think ABOUT. What is the Clock?

Let's say you get a 4 or 5 year contract/monitoring agreement.  There is a start and often more important......an END to that monitoring agreement. Let's say you wait to start monitoring, don't self enroll until the BON finishes your investigation and gets you the consent order/monitoring agreement/contract (its called different names, but is the same thing). Sometimes it can take 1 year, even 18 months for them to get you the agreement. Let's say you wait to start monitoring and start 18 months from now after you get the monitoring agreement in hand. You must realize that your 5 year contract doesnt start until You Start and it ends 5 years AFTER you started REGARDLESS of how long the BON takes to get your consent order.

So, you are under stress now and will remain under stress until this is over. Do you want 6.5 years of stress or 5 years of stress? Common sense tells me, most humans want only 5 years of stress. So, the answer......the quicker you start monitoring is the quicker this all ends for you because you started the 5 year clock. Even if the BON takes a year to investigate, it does NOT matter. You will have already started monitoring and your time ends in 4 years since you have been in monitoring for a year.

I can count at least 20 nurses I've spoken with over the years that kick themselves that waited to start monitoring until after they get their consent order from the BON/investigation is complete when they couodnhave been done 6 months, 1 year, sometimes 18 months earlier if they wouldn't have waited to start monitoring immediately.

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Specializes in Home Health.

Not being fully aware of the situation, you DID hire a lawyer, didn't you?  Please say yes.  Do NOT engage with BON without a lawyer.

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I would say Nearly Always get a lawyer UNLESS......the evidence is overwhelming. For example, if people clearly saw you high at work, you diverted with obvious pixis discrepancies, cameras, or you passed out or fell asleep or you already admitted it (if one of the above apply or more than one apply) you are waisting your money with a lawyer. They can't help you. Yes, they will relieve some of your anxiety, BUT they can NOT alter the outcome eith BON when the evidence is overwhelmingly clear that you are guilty. It's going to be 5 years of monitoring and there is no way around it. In most cases, a lawyer can help, but in cases where evidence is overwhelmingly clear against you, I think it's better to tell the truth, get into monitoring, prepare for 5 years, be done, and save yourself 20 to 25 grand for a lawyer.

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I agree with the above comment. If there is overwhelming evidence there is nothing a lawyer can do for you, and most of the time hiring a lawyer will be looked as retaliatory by the BON. If you look back and know for sure that the evidence is there I would save your money and be honest with yourself and self report. The longer you wait the longer you will be in monitoring. Not sure what state you are in but most are five years of monitoring, and some are 3. The BON is going to do everything in their power to make you accountable for anything you've done. A lawyer will not help you!

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Specializes in Home Health.

ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA TO HAVE LEGAL REPRESENTATION, NO MATTER WHAT.

 

ALWAYS is a good idea to have .  Yes, they will cancel you if you have aclaim, despite years of faithfully paying your premiums and not having any claims, but jjust like automobile insurance, it IS THERE WHEN YOU NEED IT!

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So not sure what state you're from but I will say one thing. Your license, the BON, none of it matters if you're struggling with substance abuse. It's easy to rationalize and say that you're not that bad, etc but this is your LIFE that you are trying to reclaim. Monitoring stinks but if you're trying to stay sober- I urge you to seize every tool in the toolbox. It's about reclaiming you. I wish you luck on your journey.

signed

a grateful alcoholic

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RNigothis said:

If your license is suspended, self-reporting to the monitoring program can sometimes help demonstrate accountability and commitment to recovery, but the BON still has to approve reinstatement before you can practice. Most monitoring programs work alongside the board, not in place of them.

Usually, nurses who enter voluntarily (before discipline or as part of reinstatement) are viewed more favorably. The monitoring program may support your return to safe practice once you've met their criteria (like evaluations, treatment, or testing), but you'd still need to go through the BON process to lift the suspension.

You could anonymously contact your state's alternative-to-discipline program directly as they'll tell you the best path for reinstatement and whether joining now would help your case (I am sure it will).

Wishing you strength and taking this step shows responsibility, and many nurses successfully return to practice through these programs.

 

Thank you for responding, I called and emailed, hopefully ill hear back from them soon but as I checked out the website, its saying that since im under suspension, the BON would have to give an order for the monitoring.

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SheelaDavis said:

The CLOCK that few People Think ABOUT. What is the Clock?

Let's say you get a 4 or 5 year contract/monitoring agreement.  There is a start and often more important......an END to that monitoring agreement. Let's say you wait to start monitoring, don't self enroll until the BON finishes your investigation and gets you the consent order/monitoring agreement/contract (its called different names, but is the same thing). Sometimes it can take 1 year, even 18 months for them to get you the agreement. Let's say you wait to start monitoring and start 18 months from now after you get the monitoring agreement in hand. You must realize that your 5 year contract doesnt start until You Start and it ends 5 years AFTER you started REGARDLESS of how long the BON takes to get your consent order.

So, you are under stress now and will remain under stress until this is over. Do you want 6.5 years of stress or 5 years of stress? Common sense tells me, most humans want only 5 years of stress. So, the answer......the quicker you start monitoring is the quicker this all ends for you because you started the 5 year clock. Even if the BON takes a year to investigate, it does NOT matter. You will have already started monitoring and your time ends in 4 years since you have been in monitoring for a year.

I can count at least 20 nurses I've spoken with over the years that kick themselves that waited to start monitoring until after they get their consent order from the BON/investigation is complete when they couodnhave been done 6 months, 1 year, sometimes 18 months earlier if they wouldn't have waited to start monitoring immediately.

I've contacted them, waiting on a response, once I checked the website it's saying that once the license is suspended, I have to get ordered from the BON now. I wished I had known about the program and the self reporting after the situation, I would have started immediately, but that was my fault not doing the research until after the fact.

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Ruth E. Raleigh said:

Not being fully aware of the situation, you DID hire a lawyer, didn't you?  Please say yes.  Do NOT engage with BON without a lawyer.

Oh yes the stories I've read and heard! I've gotten consultations from lawyers, but they were all insinuating that ill be placed in the program, and what they'll basically do for me is speed the process of dissolving the suspension quicker and accompany me to a hearing if I was to have one. But how abruptly my license was taken, the money I had saved, I had to pay bills, I couldn't do both.

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SheelaDavis said:

I would say Nearly Always get a lawyer UNLESS......the evidence is overwhelming. For example, if people clearly saw you high at work, you diverted with obvious pixis discrepancies, cameras, or you passed out or fell asleep or you already admitted it (if one of the above apply or more than one apply) you are waisting your money with a lawyer. They can't help you. Yes, they will relieve some of your anxiety, BUT they can NOT alter the outcome eith BON when the evidence is overwhelmingly clear that you are guilty. It's going to be 5 years of monitoring and there is no way around it. In most cases, a lawyer can help, but in cases where evidence is overwhelmingly clear against you, I think it's better to tell the truth, get into monitoring, prepare for 5 years, be done, and save yourself 20 to 25 grand for a lawyer.

Yes, they have evidence, I was hungover from the night before and dropped, even with trying to justify that, I know they only need one reason! Im waiting on a response from the monitoring program, website says once suspended, BON has to order me to enter. Now I'm just getting ready to send my response for the administrative complaint. Do you know what they will do afterwards of receiving my response typically? 

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