Are All Nursing Board Complaints Filed in Good Faith?

I have practiced licensure defense since 2001 as an attorney in private practice. I can tell you there are some nursing employers and these are typically large teaching hospitals that report "everything" to the Board of Nursing. I mean everything. If a nurse drops a vial of saline, its reported. If you slip up and say "shit" on the unit; it gets reported.

Then there are facilties that never report a nurse to the Nursing Board unless it makes the news or a patient/resident threatens to sue or go to the media.

Why is there such a disparity? The underreporting and overreporting both should be addressed; not just one or the other.

Some if not most State Board of Nursing are mandatory reporting states. Look here for an explanation of mandatory reporting. https://www.ncsbn.org/163.htm. This is from the National Council of State Boards of Nursing website.

Some employers report nurses for the wrong reasons. If you want to argue with me on this point, call me. Its a distrubing trend I am seeing in my law practice. I will speak with a nurse or meet with a nurse and think to myself or aloud "this was reported to the State Nursing Board?" Incidents that could have been managed or handled "in house" are being reported to the Nursing Board under the auspices of "mandatory reporting." Is it really mandatory reporting or is there something else going on here?

In some cases, the reporting is not done because of perceived or actual violation of the nursing law and regulations or patient safety, the motive is more sinister and self-serving. After all, who wants to be investigated by the Nursing Board? 

I know that when I pick up a home health visit here and there, I don't walk into a patient's home thinking, "I am doing to do something that gets me reported to the Nursing Board!"

Its done to humiliate, upset, and torment the nurse and its works! Why does this happen? Because of the one-sided nature of hiring/firing that benefits the healthcare employer and the perceived and actual lack of fairness, equality, and power of nurses in the healthcare working environment.

The State Nursing Board complaint becomes the healthcare employer's equivalent of giving the nurse one final middle finger "for the road" because usually the nurse has already been disciplined, suspended or terminated by the facility.

Comments

[LaTonia]

Thank you for your comment. I am not licensed to practice law in GA. I would suggest you contact a GA licensed nurse attorney or contact the GA Nurses Association practice department for assistance.

[Candi]

I was informes by a former co-worker that her friend at another facility that I had worked at told her she was going to have my licence investigated for abandonment because I walked out. During my orientation she planily told me By georgia state law there did not have to be a nurse there it was a assisted living facility. So how can she have my licence investigated if a nurse is not required by state law?

[LaTonia]

Hi Cher,

Talk to a license defense attorney in your State about what to expect as to your career and how to explain the reprimand especially now that you are a NP. Let your license defense attorney help you do the worrying here.

[cher]

I had a complaint filed by a past employer, non-patient care related. Timecard fraud. Something that could've been taken care of outside the board. They made no effort to resolve outside of board, they just reported it. Some information was and true and others not. I was advised to accept civil penalty and it will appear on my license for 10 years. They never filed formal fraud charges. I beat myself up all time over this stupid mistake.

Every job I apply for I have to worry they won't hire me because of it. I am np now, it has been reported to nationbal practitioner database as fraud. Even thou I have never been charged my court.

Frustrated and live in fear. I am always afraid they are going suddenly file fraud charges. Always having to explain my only black mark, in 15+ years of being in health care with outstanding recommendations, reviews, and referrals all other employers.

Mistake was all do to poor decison due to stress from divorce and loss of child.

[darngoodnurse]

There is a man who I have known for many years, and he is also a nurse. He hates me and has mental issues, and he is now saying "I'll go to the board and tell them you abandon your patients". Of course this is false and may never make it there, but what if it does? My hospital already has said that they will back me up, that this is untrue. Maybe I am fretting for nothing.

Also thank you for all you do.There are not enough nurse advocates around.

[kalamazoo]

i recently was investigated by a governing body of my employing hospital, an internal investigation, and now by the state board of nursing. THe nature of the complaint was a caller stating that I gave narcotics to sick infants to help them die. I know this woman and know that she is mentally disturbed. She has filed numerous unfounded complaints against her ex-husband, has threatened the president of the USA, and has been in a mental health facility for inhouse treatment. My report of her making previous false reports was verified by local law enforcement who have dealt with her numerous time investigating her exhusband for all the things she falsely reports about him. The investigation ended in my being cleared but my fear is she will call my employer or their governing agencies with further false complaints. What can I do to stop this harrassment of her reporting false complaints with these agencies that are obligated to investigate allegations against nurses? she doesn't make the complaint in person but by phone on hotlines so a restraining order wouldn't work.

[Shen]

Don't feel bad, S.D. get mad. I was told I was nuts when I pointed out the contradicting statements, and even the witnesses who said the accusation was a lie, were ignored. There seems to be a concerted attack on nurses, although I have no idea what purpose it serves.

[s.d.]

I lost my nursing license because of a untrue and false complaint filed against me. I am a good nurse and I need help. I do not know if I will ever practice nursing again.

[LaTonia]

Thank you for emailing your concerns to me and allowing me to post some of the information.

[Licensed Revoked by Nursing Board]

A complaint was filed against my license by my last employer. The information sent to the Board did not include any culpability on the hospital's part. The Board refused to acknowledge any statements I provided regarding the hospital's negligence prior to and following the occurrence.

It seems ironic that the Nursing Board dances around all the rules which the Board holds others accountable. I am glad to see someone; even if not in my state, work to protect nurses.
The damage is done in my case as far as my license. The damage being the emotional, financial, pyschological distress caused because of the complaint.