The Texas Board of Nursing is known to be very strict when it comes to all actions of nurses, which is why a nurse attorney is needed when attending hearings before the Board. The Texas Board of Nursing does not allow those who wish to exceed the scope of their practice as an RN or LVN. A certain LVN in Houston could’ve done this but failed to hire a good nurse attorney.
At the time of the incident, the LVN was employed in a university in Lubbock and had been working in the facility for two years already.
On or about October 27, 2016, while employed as staff nurse in Lubbock, the LVN removed a Foley catheter from a patient, without a physician’s order. Subsequently, the patient required a straight catheterization for retained urine.
Subsequently, she also failed to obtain a blood sample for a repeat Phosphorous Level for a patient, as ordered during parenteral nutrition intravenous infusion.
This conduct by the LVN not only exposed the patient to risk of harm from delay of diagnosis and treatment using lab result data, but also could injure the patient from ineffective treatment.
The Texas Board of Nursing took action to the case, summoning the LVN to defend against the accusation. The LVN states she mistakenly removed the Foley catheter from the patient as she was removing several other Foley catheters, and got busy and forgot to notify the physician to inform that she mistakenly removed the patient’s catheter.
The LVN also states she removed the catheter because the surgeon had an understood verbal order to remove catheters the next morning at 6:00, and did not see the surgeon’s computer-generated orders stated otherwise, and the catheter was to be removed 24-48 hours post-op.
Additionally, the LVN states she did not see the physician’s order in the computer for the Phosphorous level, and attempted to obtain the blood sample through the patient’s central line, but was unsuccessful. She also states the lab was notified to obtain a draw for the specimen.
Unfortunately, the LVN failed to hire a good nurse attorney to help her defend her case.
The Texas Board of Nursing has full jurisdiction over all cases that may affect the RN license. The strictness of the Board also ensures that nurses will only commit to the duties they are assigned to in order to guarantee accurate and excellent performance in all hospitals throughout the state of Texas.
As a result, the Texas Board of Nursing decided to sentence her LVN license to disciplinary action to ensure that she will never commit such acts again. The case would have yielded a different result if the LVN was able to hire a nurse attorney. So if you also have the same cases or concerns, it’s best to contact Nurse Attorney Yong J. An for further details. You may contact him at (832) 428-5679 to get a schedule for confidential consultation.