Tag: Oregon board of nursing complaint

Should I waive my right to a hearing with the Oregon State Board of Nursing?

The answer to this common question is that most of the time nurses will eventually waive their right to a hearing before the Oregon Board of Nursing, as part of a larger settlement agreement. This does not mean, however, that your decision to settle your case should be made lightly, or without the advice of skilled Oregon licensure counsel.

The decision to waive your right to a hearing is one of the more important decisions you will make. If professional discipline is imposed, it will have lasting consequences. Your right to a hearing is your safety net against an unfair resolution. Your right to a hearing preserves your opportunity to have your case decided by an neutral and independent Administrative law Judge (ALJ). And finally, because both sides generally prefer to avoid a hearing, your right to a hearing is also one of your bargaining chips.

This point is key: waiving your right to a hearing is part of a settlement, but you should not waive any of your rights until you and your Oregon licensure lawyer are satisfied that you have reached a fair settlement. If you are facing an investigation by the Oregon Board of Nursing, consult an Oregon licensure lawyer immediately.

Do I need a nursing Board lawyer to review my stipulated order of reprimand?

The answer to this question is “yes,” you need a nursing board lawyer, usually called a “licensure lawyer,” to review a proposed stipulated order of remand. If there is an exception to this answer, I am unaware of it.

First a bit of background. Reprimands exist on the low end of the range of professional sanctions that are available to any licensing Board, including the Oregon State Board of Nursing. Reprimands may be offered, for example, by the Board of Nursing as a quick resolution to a complaint involving a relatively small digression by the nurse, providing what may appear at first glance as an easy way out for both the Board of he Nursing and the nurse. It is precisely because reprimands exist on the low end of the range of sanctions, that reprimands are sometimes viewed as an easy settlement. It is a mistake, however, to treat reprimands so lightly.

Consider these three consequences of a reprimand:

  • Although a reprimand exists on the low end of the range of sanctions, a reprimand is nonetheless a form of professional sanction or discipline, and it is a public record. For most licensees, a reprimand will be included in your profile listed on your Board’s licensing verification page (e.g., the Board’s website). This is true of the Oregon State Board of Nursing, and also the Oregon Medical Board and the Oregon Board of Pharmacy.
  • Because a reprimand is a form of professional sanction or discipline, it is almost always necessary to report the reprimand to any other states in which you are also licensed, which will prompt another investigation – and maybe mirror-image discipline – by those states.
  • A reprimand also counts as disciplinary history against you, which means that if another complaint is filed with the Oregon State Board of Nursing, the nurse will have “disciplinary history” the next time, which is not desirable.

Hopefully, the above analysis is sufficient to establish the seriousness of a reprimand, and why it is a good idea to have any proposed settlement reviewed by an experienced nursing board lawyer before accepting a reprimand in order to settle a Board of Nursing complaint, used as an example above.

Two cases that make the point

I was retained by nurses earlier this year, shortly after they had received proposed reprimands from Oregon Board of Nursing, offered as a settlement to conclude the case. In both case, the reprimands were worded in a way that could be interpreted to include far worse conduct than the underlying facts warranted. This fact alone was reason to reject the reprimands. Additionally, there were extenuating circumstances in each case that caused me to recommend to each of the nurses they not accept any form of reprimand to settle their cases. Both nurses accepted my recommendations, which prompted me to explain my advice to the Board of Nursing and to request that the Board of Nursing issue letters of concern only. The Board of Nursing agreed, and recently closed both files without disciplining the nurses (a letter of concern is not discipline).

One last point

If legal advice from a nursing board lawyer is necessary before accepting a “lowly” reprimand, you will certainly want to consult a nursing board lawyer whenever you receive notice of any proposed disciplinary sanction from the Oregon Board of Nursing (the same is true for the Oregon Medical Board and the Oregon Board of Pharmacy).

Above and beyond a reprimand, the range of sanctions available to the Board of Nursing include having your license to practice nursing temporarily suspended, indefinitely suspended, or permanently suspended; or having your license to practice nursing revoked. Sanctions may further include monetary fines, continuing education, recurrent training, the imposition of a mentor and monitoring, and periods of probation. One or more sanctions, in combination, may be proposed by the Board of Nursing, as the Board sees fit.

In sum, if you are being investigated by the Oregon Board of Nursing, a nursing board lawyer should be involved from the start, and should certainly review any proposed settlements. Although I have written these comments using the Oregon Board of Nursing as an example, the same is true of investigations involving the Oregon Medical Board and the Oregon Board of Pharmacy; a lawyer should always be involved.

Oregon State Board of Nursing complaints: A common question

What should I do when my employer files a complaint with the Oregon State Board of Nursing?

As you will see from this discussion, it pays to obtain competent licensure counsel and take early action. In four cases this year, I was hired soon after the nurse (my client) was informed that his or her hospital intended to file a complaint with the Oregon State Board of Nursing (OSBN).

In the first two cases, the hospital made its decision and terminated the nurse all in the span of a few days. The process was essentially a well-orchestrated and documented exit interview, leaving little for us to do, other than wait for the expected notice from the Oregon State Board of Nursing that the compliant had been received, and start our defense then.

In the third and fourth cases, however, the hospital provided the nurse with 14 days advance notice of the hospital’s plan to file a complaint with the Oregon State Board of Nursing. In these two cases, the hospital was required by a labor contract to allow the nurse 14 days to provide an “optional response,” which allowed us to start our work immediately, with the hospital.

What happened in the four cases?

The first two cases were fully resolved in the nurse’s favor. At the conclusion of both interviews, the investigators for the Board of Nursing evidently agreed with the nurse, not the hospital, and the Board of Nursing took no action.

In the third case, the hospital withdrew its threat of termination and of filing a complaint with the Oregon State Board of Nursing. The hospital also made internal changes as a result of the nurse’s response (our response) to the hospital’s threat of termination and filing a complaint with the Board of Nursing. This was an excellent result for the nurse and the Board of Nursing was never involved, as a complaint was never filed.

At this point it time, the fourth case is too new to my office to predict or know the outcome, but as you can see, these cases are defensible. In the first three cases, the hospital was mistaken, and the nurse had it right.

What you need to know

All four cases involved a complicated mix of practice issues, legal issues, management issues, and sometimes “personalities.” In all four cases, the hospital was acting through its Human Resources Department (HR), which, if you do not know, is essentially an in-house legal department comprised of management and lawyers. When HR is involved, it may mean that a small team of individuals has already organized and is working against you. If this scenario sounds familiar, you are advised to hire competent licensure counsel immediately. The nurse is often right and taking early action works!