A nurse attorney is someone who can help if someone filed a case against you. Unfortunately, not all nurses were able to hire a nurse attorney as they underwent such cases. This incident that an RN committed in 2008, was one of those examples.
On or about January 28, 2008, an Rn from Irving was accused of DWI. In response to this, the RN states that on December 2, 2005, she went to a Mexican Restaurant and had a late lunch with 2 margaritas. She left with a plate of leftover food to drive home a mile away. She noticed the plate of food had slid forward to the edge of the seat and reached over to move it to the floorboard. She hit the curb and dazed herself from hitting the gear shift on the floor and knocked out 2 of her bottom denture teeth. She traveled across the median and hit an oncoming car. No one was injured. She was convicted in January 2008.
On or about May 3, 2007, the RN submitted a Texas Online Renewal Document to the Board of Nurse Examiners for the State of Texas in which she provided false, deceptive, and/or misleading information, in that she answered “No” to the question: “Have you ever been convicted, placed on community supervision whether or not adjudicated guilty, sentenced to serve jail or prison time or granted pre-trial diversion, or plead guilty, no contest or nolo contendere to any crime in any state, territory or country, or received a court order whether or not a sentenced was imposed, including any pending criminal charges or unresolved arrests whether or not on appeal …”
The RN failed to disclose that she was recently arrested for DWI.
The Texas Board of Nursing has full jurisdiction over all cases regarding errors committed by an RN or LVN. Thus, she was called by the Board to defend against the case.
In response to the incident, the RN states that the day after the incident, she called the Board of Nursing and spoke with a representative there about the incident, and was told that when she was convicted of the accident and received paperwork from the court, to send it all in with a statement of what happened. Her lawyer advised her at the time of her 2007 nursing renewal, that she was not convicted nor was she arrested and could answer no to the questions posed on the renewal.
On October 27, 2008, she spoke with a Board representative, who told her she should have answered “Yes” to being arrested. However, she states she was not arrested. She has been following the advice from the Board and from her lawyer.
The following incident and defense against the case caused the Texas Board of Nursing to place the RN and her license into disciplinary proceedings. She would have sought assistance from a good nurse attorney to provide clarifications towards the case.
Too bad the RN failed to hire a nurse attorney. If you wish to preserve your career and your license, an experienced nurse attorney is what you need. Nurse Attorney Yong J. An, an experienced nurse lawyer for various licensing cases for 14 years, can assist you by contacting him at (832) 428-5679.