You receive a letter from the Board of Nursing, and you’re scared to death!
Would you believe that, in Idaho, nurses are receiving mailings from the U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration accompanied by a cover letter from that state’s Board of Nursing notifying the recipient that their license is to be suspended. Click here.
On first blush, it appears to be official and all legal in notifying the nurse that their license is about to be suspended. It has the nurse’s name, registered address, an investigation number and even her nursing license number.
The letter asks for money to post a bond which MAY be refunded once the case is resolved.
These are FAKE!
There are red flags throughout this letter.
(1) The Board of Nursing would never ask for money upfront. You have an opportunity to contest your matter.
(2) One of the requirements cited in the letter was that the nurse was not to share or disclose anything about this “investigation” to any third party. An attorney is a third party. This letter does not say you have the right to talk to an attorney. This is paramount language for all Board matters. Some letters even say if you choose not to hire an attorney, we will consider this a waiver of your right to counsel.
(3) The letter demands you submit a refundable government security bond for which the Board never requests.
These are huge red flags that these letters and documents are not legal. In fact, the mailings are an act of fraud.
Unless a Board of Nursing takes action for emergency suspension, which is required to give notice, the nurse’s license cannot be suspended in any way without first having an opportunity to be heard. The Board also would have to give the nurse an opportunity to seek legal counsel.
It is infuriating that these scam artists play on the fears of dedicated, hardworking nurses to steal their money. A nurse getting such a communication would be terrified in thinking that their license is about to be suspended.
Any nurse who receives a suspicious letter from the Board of Nursing, any state or federal entity, should have as their first response to seek the advice of an attorney.
These scams are facilitated by the fact that a nurse’s information is a matter of public record and the thief has no challenge in getting the victim’s address and license number to initiate their crime.
Hopefully, you will note and take heed of the “red flags” noted above to protect yourself by immediately seeking the assistance of an attorney should you ever receive such mail.
Pass my warning around to all your nursing colleagues and please report any such scams to the appropriate authorities. This is our best way stop or at least curb this type of criminal behavior.
alice says
This is not so far fetched, only in AZ they call and say you have a board complaint and ask you to ‘guess’ what it is about .
I figure they do this , in case there was some incident at work, now they can go after what you bring up too. (there is always some type of incident at work, something small someone can blow up ) .
The nurse has done nothing wrong, but they manage to revoke your license , so it is a scam either way. A set up , stacked against the nurse.
1)the state selects the Dir of the BON who can serve a lifetime, the BON members, the investigators hired by the state, the ALJ’s . All lawyers say is don’t lie to the BON, there are many untrue statements about you and the BON know’s it , but will go with it . Unbalanced system. If you don’t sign lies, they schedule a court case, that has been decided before you get there . An Alj who basically a prop, no jury pool. It is held in a separate office, (in AZ one floor down , the ALj’s BON all use same parking garage, elevators, cafeteria). to give the appearance of being separate and fair . The ALJ does not make a decision but offers an opinion, which is written by the BON assistant directors, making all of their witnesses ‘credible”, then the BON members swear they have read 1100 pages on just your case, they rec’d on Tues for Thurs meeting, then it goes to the BON meeting and they vote. Generally one person makes 95% of all the motions and the rest say “aye ” like bubble heads. Then if you appeal you are suing the BON members , and when 5 years is up to reapply the same BON members are still there ,(5 yr terms renew 5 yrs , but are still there in 13 yrs! ) like having the same jury you had the first time on your appeal . It is a Sham court and a SCAM , of racketeering to steal licenses , mainly to protect hospitals. Tell me I’m wrong.
Lisa B. says
Also, there are scammers that are calling nurses and saying similar things. One RN posted on Facebook a few days ago that she received a call from someone saying they were from her state BON. They had all sorts of info. about her, including name, address, and license number. Of course, it was a scam and she realized it. My understanding is the BON will send you a letter in the mail first to let you know that you are being investigated, and I believe you have a certain number of days to respond. Also, I would advise NEVER speaking directly with the BON unless through an attorney if you do actually get reported to them. Sometimes, their investigators will attempt to call you and speak with you in person. Let your attorney do the communicating if you ever need to communicate with them regarding a complaint.
D.K. Sullivan says
Not to discourage one having to seek the advice of an attorney, in reference to a nurse having “as their first response to seek the advice of an attorney,” should not a reasonable first response be to contact the Board of Nursing to determine whether such a mailing was actually issued?
If the Board says it has NOT done such a mailing, then a nurse could discard the letter (after reporting it to the Board) and thus avoid the expense of a lawyer who likely would contact the Board as their own first action.
LORIE A BROWN, R.N., M.N., J.D. says
You would want to seek the advice of an attorney because an attorney who practices in this area will know if it is legitimate or not without calling the Board. In addition, the investigator or whoever signed the letter will try to get you to talk and get information from you which may be against your interest.