An RN or LVN who violates the state laws and issuances from the Texas Board of Nursing (BON) should seek proper help from a nurse attorney. Doing so could make or break their cases. As a matter of fact, the RN license can even be suspended or revoked if not defended properly.
The Texas Board of Nursing (BON) is the government agency that has jurisdiction to hear and decide administrative cases involving RN licenses. The BON has the power to suspend and/or revoke the nurse’s license. It is also the agency that is responsible for overseeing the practice of professional nursing all over the State of Texas.
At the time of the initial incident, she was employed as an RN with a medical facility in Denton, Texas, and had been in that position for eleven (11) months.
On or about January 15, 2019, while employed as an RN in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at a medical facility in Denton, Texas, and caring for a patient who was transferred to the ICU for a higher level of care as a result of septic shock/hypoxia, RN did the following:
- failed to validate the patient’s vital signs in order to preserve them in the patient’s medical record; instead, the patient’s vital signs were validated by the leadership team. RN’s conduct could have resulted in an incomplete medical record and could have contributed to the injury to the patient in that subsequent caregivers did not have accurate and complete information on which to base their decisions for further care.
- failed to document the doses of norepinephrine administered to the aforementioned patient in the medication administration record and failed to document that she stopped the norepinephrine at 0500. RN’s conduct resulted in an incomplete medical record and could have contributed to the injury to the patient in that subsequent caregivers did not have accurate and complete information on which to base their decisions for further care.
In response, RN states that she takes accountability for not charting the norepinephrine titration and not validating q15 minute vitals. RN states that one reason for not validating the vital signs was due to her concerns that many blood pressure readings were not accurate due to the inability to keep the patient’s blood pressure cuff in place as a result of the patient’s combativeness and the discomfort the patient experienced when the blood pressure was taken. RN states she was constantly in the patient’s room to monitor and assess the patient, including assessing the patient’s vital signs and oxygen saturation levels.
The above actions constitute grounds for disciplinary action in accordance with Section 301.452(b)(13), Texas Occupations Code, and are a violation of 22 TEX. ADMIN. CODE §217.11(1)(A),(1)(B),(1)(C),(1)(D)&(1)(M).
The Texas Board of Nursing (BON) found her guilty of the complaint against her and her RN license was subjected to disciplinary action. She lost the case simply because the RN failed to find an effective and efficient nurse attorney.
Avoid committing the same mistake as the RN mentioned above. Find the right nurse attorney in Texas to help you with your case. Texas Nurse Attorney Yong J. An is an experienced nurse attorney for various licensing cases for 16 years and represented over 200 nurse BON license cases before the Texas BON. Contact him directly by calling or texting him at (832) 428-5679 for a discreet consultation.