Complaints and accusations about falsifying a patient medical record is a stressful issue for an RN or LVN, except when a nurse attorney will assist you against the case. The Texas Board of Nursing is responsible for all hearings against RNs and LVNs undergoing a case that may revoke, suspend, or only discipline their license. Take note that a nurse attorney can also defend a nurse’s license against accusations.
At the time of the initial incident, an LVN was employed as a Licensed Vocational Nurse at a hospital in Carrollton, Texas, and had been in that position for three (3) years.
An incident happened on or about October 12, 2018, while employed as a Licensed Vocational Nurse and was assigned to provide skilled nursing to a patient, the LVN falsified patient care documentation in the medical record of said patient, documenting that she provided care to the patient when she was not present in the home at the time. The LVN’s conduct resulted in an inaccurate medical record and was likely to injure the patient in that subsequent caregivers would rely on her documentation for further care.
In regards to the above incident, the LVN states she usually worked 7 am to 6 pm most days; however, she instead worked from 6 am to 8 pm on October 11, 2018, and 6:30 am to 2:30 pm on October 12, 2018, to which the patient’s mother agreed. The VLN states this situation arose when, rather than completing a new, accurate timesheet for the week that she worked, believing at the time it would not cause any problems, as the patient was fully cared for and the number of hours worked was identical, she simply submitted her normal timesheet, indicating her usual hours worked.
The result of her actions became her everyday problem. The case was stressful for her and she even forgot to have a skilled nurse attorney by her side to help her defend her case. She did not seek an experienced and skilled nurse attorney’s assistance which may result in unfavorable outcomes for the LVN.
Therefore, the Texas Board of Nursing placed her LVN license under disciplinary proceedings to avoid further incidents regarding wastage procedures. Should these cases happen to you, and you have a valid explanation, the help of a nurse attorney is recommended. That’s why Nurse Attorney Yong J. An is glad to assist you by contacting him at (832) 428-5679 for further details.