Blog - Brown Law Office

California BRN Finds Fraud In Investigations

July 9, 2020 by LORIE A BROWN, R.N., M.N., J.D. Leave a Comment

The California Board of Registered Nurses was backlogged when Governor Schwarzenegger was in office and it came under extreme scrutiny since the Board was taking no actions against dangerous nurses. The Governor, in 2009, eventually replaced the entire Board.

The tyranny is not over. Joseph Morris, the executive director, resigned this past February after several women working for the Board accused him of sexual harassment.

More so, in 2016 the State Auditor said there was a backlog of cases leading nurses to be more of a risk to patients. These complaints were based on unprofessional conduct, drug use and negligence.

The Board took more than 1½ years to assign the complaint to an investigator regarding an allegation that a nurse caused the death of a toddler by giving the wrong dose of medication. The nurse was allowed still to practice for 3 years while the complaint was under review.

But, if you want to know the real kicker, an auditor recently released a report in that claimed that investigators were allowed to only have 20 cases at a time so they could have time to adequately investigate the score of claims they had.

However, it was discovered in a draft of the auditor’s report issued this week that in the investigators’ haste to distribute cases among staff, the investigators had MORE than 20 cases and falsified their report to make it appear it was properly investigating allegations against the nurses’ licenses.

What concerns me for the nurses, who were the victims of these false reports, what recourse do they have?

If you are a California nurse and have been disciplined, you may wish to go back to the attorney who represented you and make sure that the evidence that the state had was legitimate.

For those who settled their cases on false evidence, I am truly sorry. I hope you can find some recourse.

Indiana Joins The Nurse Licensure Compact

July 2, 2020 by LORIE A BROWN, R.N., M.N., J.D. 3 Comments

On July 1, 2020, Indiana became the next state to join the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) which allows nurses who live in Indiana to practice outside of Indiana under the auspices of a Compact License.

To apply for the License, you need to go to in.gov/pla, click pla online services, enter your Indiana license number and the last 4 digits of your social security number. Then, you select new license and click on compact. It only costs $25 to change to an e-nursing license in Indiana.

For example: if an Indiana licensed nurse lives near the border of Kentucky, she will be able to practice in Kentucky as long as she has an eNLC Indiana license. With that she need not have a Kentucky license.

Interestingly, our surrounding states, especially Illinois where the National Council of State Boards of Nurses which administers the NLC is not a compact state nor is Michigan or Ohio.

However, Illinois does have pending legislation under Senate Bill 3067 and Michigan has pending legislation under House Bill 4042.

The eLNC license has been endorsed by several nursing organizations but not without some concerns. The major ones were:

Disciplinary action under eNLC;
Differing standards of care; and
Privacy of patients.

However, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing stresses the benefits of a Compact License which includes:

Practice by telenursing in other eLNC states; and
Responding to national disasters and staffing shortages in other eLNC states.

We have seen this obviously in times of Covid which would have been of benefit to many travel nurses had the states not relaxed the licensure requirements.

Noteworthy is that the medical boards do not have any kind of Compact Licensure, but they have more rules and regulations on telemedicine which we do not have under the Nurse Practice Act.

Many questions are raised by the NLC. If you do not live in a border state area which is a Compact License state and unless you plan to do travel nursing, there’s no need to upgrade and pay the additional fee for an eLNC license.

If you move to a new state of residency, you will have to obtain a single state license valid only for that state and continue to work on your Indiana eNLC license.

A nurse cannot hold a Compact License if he/she lives in a state which is not a Compact state. However, if the nurse moves from a non-Compact state to a Compact state, he/she can be licensed in the Compact state by endorsement under an eNLC license as well.

If a nurse with a Compact license is disciplined, action will be taken both in the state where the action occurred as well as in the state of residence.

The state of residence has the authority to remove all compact privileges. The license then becomes a single state license and will be disciplined.

If the nurse has an adverse action on their license, participation in an alternative to discipline program, a misdemeanor offense relating the practice of nursing for a felony offense, all comprise grounds to disqualify or will create difficulties under the license and may only allow you to have a single state license.

If an APRN with a Compact License does not live in but does practice in Indiana, the APRN will need to comply with the Indiana rules for APRN licensure such as a collaborative practice agreement and controlled substance registration and everything else the comes and goes with becoming an APRN.

I find it interesting in how nursing seems to be progressing in the area of licensure. However, I would love to see nursing be more specific in the Nurse Practice Act in terms of new roles such as coaching and what kind of license is needed for these situations.

I’m curious what you think about the Compact Licensure? Do have one where you live? Does it allow you more freedom in your practice?

I’d love to read your comments below.

What is Happening with the Nursing Boards During Covid?

June 18, 2020 by LORIE A BROWN, R.N., M.N., J.D. Leave a Comment

As a member and president elect of The American Association of Nurse Attorneys (TAANA.org), I have relationships with many nurse attorneys who practice before the various nursing boards throughout the country. In Indiana, where my office is located, the Board has filed very few cases against nurses so far and we had our first virtual hearing this week. Each state has taken a different approach on how to handle their cases against nurses. I did an informal survey and the answers were quite diverse.

Most states have found a way to function and continue filing complaints against nurses, having prehearing settlement conferences and hearings over the phone or virtually. However, many states are not lifting probation or suspensions during this time.

Not surprising, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina and Washington are postponing hearings until the fall.

I was hoping that the Boards would see how valuable nurses are during this time and take that into consideration, but I am not sure this is going to be the case. At least in Indiana, they seem to be taking the same position they have always taken. Hopefully, you are not expecting anything from the Board but just know things can be delayed.

Privacy Is Everything

June 4, 2020 by LORIE A BROWN, R.N., M.N., J.D. 1 Comment

This past week, a Maryville, Tennessee, nurse was fired for allegedly posting racist and violent messages through her Facebook account.

It was later learned that she could not have made the comments because hospital security footage showed that she was in a patient’s room at the approximate time the comments were made.

Then it was learned that the horrible posts were composed by her fiancé on her social media account. He even went to the hospital to tell officials that it was he rather than the nurse who had written the posts. The fiancé claimed that he sent the messages because somebody sent the nurse a rude message first.

Nevertheless, the nurse was terminated from her position and referred to the Tennessee Board of Nursing for investigation.

The concern of the hospital was that comments made on a social media site by an employer reflected poorly on the organization and does not reflect the code of conduct and values for the hospital.

Now, the nurse is concerned not only about her ability to find another job but, due to the racial content of and backlash to the messages, for her personal safety as well as that of her own 2 children.

Since the incident, she and her fiancé have parted ways and she has sought protective orders against him. [Click here for article]

I can never stress enough how important it is to maintain your privacy and security by keeping your passwords private and share them with no one! If you share a computer at home, do not save your passwords as others might post on your behalf.

Your privacy is the one thing that is truly yours. Therefore, respect it and do not share passwords or allow people access to your computer, even your children. You never know what they might write on your wall and it could become a quite troublesome problem.

You are a professional and everything you do reflects on you. Unfortunately, this nurse paid the terrible price of losing her job and being reported to the Board.

As nurses we are caregivers and sometimes the personal relationships, we may find ourselves involved in are not the healthiest. We believe that the other person needs us so we continue the relationship.

Please, if you are in an unhealthy relationship, get the help you need to end it.

Contact Information