Avoiding Litigation

I am speaking at a seminar, "Avoiding Litigation", on April 4, 2009 at the Thompson Conference Center, Austin Texas. The one day event is sponsored by the Texas Nurses Association District 5 and is incredibly CHEAP to attend ($15 for TNA members and $30 for non-members)!!!!

License Questions-How to Answer

What do you answer when asked by the Board of Nursing:

Have you ever been arrested?
Have you ever been convicted?
Has another licensing agency taken disciplinary action?
Have you ever....

If the answer is YES, then please answer YES. Do not assume that the BON will not find out. I have seen the Board find incidents that other background checks ignored. It also does not matter how long it has been, you must answer YES if the answer is YES. Do not make the mistake of assuming that your case has been expunged or sealed unless you have a court document in your hand that states that it has been expunged or sealed. Many nurses answer NO because they were told that since their case was a deferred adjudication, they can answer NO. This is faulty and dangerous advice.

If a nurse fails to answer correctly, the nurse will be subject to disciplinary action. No one wants to start their career off with a disciplinary action. If you are not sure how to answer a question. Do not ask your criminal attorney or family friend or instructor; ask an administrative lawyer that practices before the Board. There are more hints if you are facing a current criminal action on my firm's website.

Support HB 998, Support Nurses

I am asking you to take a few minutes to contact your State Representative and your State Senator and ask them to support HB 998.

I have told you of the frustration I face before the Board of Nursing when it comes to fighting a decision at the Board and I have blogged about it. Currently, if a nurse chooses to go to an administrative hearing before a Judge and fight the Board, the nurse can get a favorable decision by the Judge only to have the Board overturn the Judge's recommendation. This means the nurse must spend more time and money to appeal the case before District Court.

There have even been instances of other Boards (my example is the Texas Medical Board) overturning the Judge's decision to revoke a license which then allowed a physician to continue harming patients (he was nick-named Dr. Death by the media). So, the current system has the potential to harm not only licensees, but also the public. Plus, it is not a fair and just system.

HB 998 will change the current system to make the Judge's decision be the final decision and then if either the licensee or the Board wants to appeal it, they have to go to District Court. This is a great bill and we need to make sure that it gets passed. If you want to give personal examples of where the current system impacted you, please do so because it shows that you are very interested in getting the law changed. Letters and phone calls have more impact than emails, but something is better than not contacting them at all.

You can find out who represents you in the State Legislature by going to Texas Legislature online. On the right hand side is a "Who Represents Me?"

Please take a few minutes to help Texas nurses and you never know, you may be helping yourself.

New Legislative Session

The Legislature is in session and the filing of the bills have started. You must keep up with the bills that are being filed regarding nursing and you must contact your state Senator and Representative regarding which bills you want them to support and which need to be fought down. The big argument that I am receiving emails about regards nursing staffing with the lines being drawn between TNA and NNOC. There are two companion bills filed right now: SB 476 and HB 591 (SB means Senate Bill and HB means House Bill). You should go to the Texas Legislature Online and read one of the companion bills to determine whether you want to urge your Legislator to support or defeat the bills. There are also bills regarding prescriptive authority for Advanced Practice Nurses and HB 70 involving Chapter 53 of the Occupations Code that impacts nurses and the BON.

Keep informed, express your wants and be represented.