The Kentucky Nursing Board isn't playing with nurses involved in disciplinary investigation before the Board.
When you open the mail and receive the Notice of Complaint, you won't here a violin in the background and you certainly shouldn't have a picture of you and the Kentucky Nursing Board investigators meeting for afternoon tea if your investigative meeting is schedule after 12noon or chatting about the details of the complaint over coffee if your investigative meeting is scheduled in the morning.
I love it because it out there and in your face. It says Notice of Complaint and it required a Verified Response. The Board requires a Verified Response to a Complaint filed against a license within 30 days of receipt of the Notice of Complaint.
Why is this a big deal?
Well let's see. The rationale for a Verified Response to a Complaint is simply:
1. You have to verify what you are saying to the Board in response to the Complaint is accurate. No more just saying whatever to the Board.
2. The Verified Response must be notarized. This is significant because you are legally attesting to what is stated in the Verified Complaint on the date the response is notarized.
3. If you don't respond or respond with false or inaccurate information, this can lead to other alleged violations of the nursing law and rules.
Why is this a big deal?
1. This tells me as a license defense attorney that some nurses (certainly not all but enough) have been submitting statements to the Kentucky Nursing Board which are not accurate; and
2. This tell me as a license defense attorney that some nurses (certainly not all but enough) have been dishonest, deceitful, and deceptive with the Board in complaint investigations.
Dishonesty, Deceitful, and Deceptive= Dumb, Dumber, and Dumbest IMHO in licensing Board cases. This is why one should really consider having legal representation instead of representing yourself before a State Nursing Board.
Just saying anything and just putting anything in writing doesn't cut with a Verified Response to the Notice of Complaint.
Pardon my french, this is strictly my opinion, and if asked (unless I am asked in a Verified Response to a Notice of Complaint) I will lie about it; a 30 day Verified Response to a Kentucky Nursing Board Complaint, is the first step when differientating the sh*t from the shinola. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/you_don%27t_know_shit_from_Shinola
Its my job as a license defense attorney to do the same.
A Verified Response to the Notice of Complaint is fairly new and this isn't something the Kentucky Nursing Board has always done for years or decades prior. As a nurse license defense attorney,
I am actually glad to see the Board take this approach. Why?
a. It impresses upon the nurse the seriousness of the Verified Response and that you can't just say anything to the licensing Board governing your nursing practice in response to a complaint filed again you with the licensing board;
b. You must respond and the failure to respond can be lead to more problems. This is common with attorney disciplinary investigations; as attorneys we just can't respond to a Bar investigation because the failure to respond is an issue in and of itself.
c. You must respond within a required period of time and the failure to respond within this period of time can lead to more problems. This is the consistent with Bar investigations of attorneys and some other licensing Board investigations.
d. The majority of nurses represent themselves in State Nursing Board complaints and having to respond with a Verified Response may cause a nurse to pause and consider the complaint and what is alleged and before drafting a 29 page handwritten response to the Complaint, seriously consider one's response and whether or not legal counsel would be beneficial; and
e. I like it because its, IMHO, the Kentucky Nursing Board's Miranda Warning who receive a Notice of Complaint. Please tell me you know Miranda. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miranda_warning.
The Board is saying "here's the complaint, here's what is required, and here's what can happen if you don't do what's required." Its out there and in your face.
Please tell me that you knew these cases, investigations, and adjudications were adversarial?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adversarial_system
I love it because this is what a Nursing Board should do when a complaint is filed against nurse. The Board's role should be stated and again "out there and in the face" of the nurse who is being investigated. .
I however would suggest one minor change to the Notice fo Complaint. It would be nice if the Kentucky Nursing Board ended the Notice of Complaint with "Do you feel lucky?" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_Harry
Although I am just kidding of course with the Dirty Harry quote and I am adding a little humor, the Notice of Complaint is a big deal and the Verified Response required by the Kentucky Nursing Board is the real deal.
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