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Leaving your nursing assignment while on duty without notification to the present Registered Nurse is a violation. This may result in a great risk of harm to patients. It is also considered negligence of duty. An LVN having such a violation will be summoned by the Board and will be sanctioned. Before facing the Board, an LVN should come prepared by having a nurse attorney for the defense. An example of such a violation happened to an LVN at Laredo, Texas.

On or about April 18, 2020, while employed as an LVN at a hospital in Laredo, Texas, LVN left his nursing assignment before notifying a supervisor and reporting off to another nurse. LVN’s conduct exposed patients unnecessarily to risk of harm in that leaving the nursing assignment could have resulted in patients not getting the nursing care needed.

In response to the above incident, LVN states that he needed to go deal with a bank matter urgently and texted his supervisor to notify her since he could not find her. LVN states that he told the triage nurse he was leaving, and he had already checked on his assigned patients to make sure nothing else was pending at that time. LVN states that he returned and resumed care of his patients without any detrimental consequences. LVN adds that he did not do this again after this date and knows not to leave the unit without proper handoff for continuity of care.

The above action constitutes grounds for disciplinary action in accordance with Section 301.452(b)(10)&(13), Texas Occupations Code, and is a violation of 22 TEX. ADMIN. CODE §217.11(1)(A),(1)(B),(1)(C),(1)(D)&(1)(I) and 22 TEX. ADMIN. CODE §217.12 (1)(A),(1)(B),(1)(C),(4),&(12).

A case was ultimately filed against him before the Texas Board of Nursing (BON). The said allegation was fatal to the LVN’s capability to perform the essential functions and duties. Sad to say, the nursing defense attorney who handled his case was not able to properly defend his interests and rights before the Board. The Texas Board of Nursing (BON) found him guilty of the offense alleged in the complaint and decided to place his LVN license under disciplinary action.

If you also received a letter from the Texas Board of Nursing regarding a case or complaint filed against you, you should hire a nurse attorney immediately before it’s too late. Texas Nurse Attorney Yong J. An is one of those dedicated nurse attorneys who helped represent more than 300 nurse cases for the past 16 years. You may contact him 24/7 at (832) 428-5679 for more information or if you want to schedule a private consultation.