I have been posting about one of our clients that we have been working with for a year. She was reported as an act of retaliation. The nursing board accussed her of not giving several medications in a timely manner. The antibiotics and other drugs were in fact given. An anti fungal had been ordered too soon after the ER dose. The nurse had correctly retimed the dose to prevent an overdose. The board also attempted to paint a picture of the patient being unstable in their clear lack of knowledge regarding the evidenced based literature.
We spent hours over many months helping this nurse rebutt the charges. The board in over 2 1/2 years never even responded to the clear and convincing evidence in the record that proved the nurse was in fact compliant with the NPA. They let her twist in the wind for over two years. They flagged her license with formal charges making it impossible for her to gain employment. This nurse was forced into poverty and sufferred great emotional trauma from being falsly accussed of things that in fact never happened.
The board tried to railroad the case to a trial at the State Office of Administrative Hearings. Nurses have little hope of winning at trial. The board will put up experts to testify against nurse. The deck is stacked against the nurse at SOAH.
We had the nurse instead apply for a SOAH mediation to take place before trial. Mediation is very effective where the nurse has the opportunity to prove her case before an unbiased Judge. We spent 12 hours preparing the nurse to testify and prove her case.
Our nurse consultant who is a former board investigator and Masters prepared nurse presented on the nurse's behalf at the hearing today. The board came back with a complete dismissal. Amazingly, the board attorney said that our client was by far the best presenting nurse she had ever seen. She further, told our client that her commitment to good patient care clearly came across.
The board dismissed ALL charges without prejudice. The nurse had done it, with the assistance of our nurse Expert. We are so grateful and give the Lord all the praise. This nurse will be able to return to work and continue in her 17 year career that was nearly destroyed by a board who failed to appropriately assess the facts. Thank you Maggie Ortiz for being at the hearing via Zoom today and helping to return this nurse to caring for patients, where she belongs. It was a tough 2 1/2 years. She has much healing to do, but she is free.