When the Texas Board of Nursing (BON) has a complaint against you, you should seek the nurse attorney. Any RN or LVN found guilty for violating the state laws and regulations may be subjected to a disciplinary case such as revocation or suspension of her RN or LVN license.
The trend is for employers to refer a case to the Texas BON to discipline nurse and at the same time terminate your employment in most of the cases.
One of the best examples happened to a LVN employed in a healthcare residence in Dallas. During the time of the initial incident, the LVN had been in the position for three months.
On or about February 19,2017 the LVN administered Haldol, an antipsychotic medication, via intramuscular injection to a patient, who was agitated, without a physician order and without verifying the patient’s drug allergies. The patient had a documented allergy to Haldol.
In addition, the LVN failed to notify the physician, Supervisor and family of the medication error once she was informed by the oncoming nurse that the resident had an allergy to Haldol. Her conduct was likely to injure the resident from potentially adverse complications to a medication that she was allergic to, and that was not ordered by the physician
Subsequently, the LVN failed to document in the medical record of the aforementioned patient assessments performed, or that she administered Haldol. She conduct resulted in an inaccurate medical record and was likely to injure the resident from subsequent care decisions made without the benefit of accurate and complete information.
The Texas Board of Nursing gave the LVN a chance to defend her case. She states that she administered Prolixin which was prescribed to the resident for refusal of daily medication. The LVN states that Prolixin and Haldol were available, but Haldol wasn’t available for this resident.
The LVN states that the resident had been taking Prolixin for about six days without side effects or reactions. She relates that three checks were done prior to the injection, and she called to the pharmacy for confirmation, but there were no other nurses or RN Supervisor on site or available by phone.
The LVN explains that Haldol isn’t a controlled substance and wasn’t required to be signed out at the facility. She indicates that she checked the resident thirty minutes after administering the Prolixin, and there were no signs or symptoms of agitation or allergic reaction. She relates that she stayed after her shift and assessed the patient still with no symptoms of allergic reaction.
The LVN also explains that between 2 and 3 pm, the physician and supervisor were contacted by the oncoming nurse.
The Texas Board of Nursing then subjected the LVN and her license into disciplinary action. The accusation would have been defended by an experienced and skilled nurse attorney, had the LVN hired one. Hiring a nurse attorney for defense is applicable for any kind of accusation laid against an RN or LVN.
For more details and to schedule a confidential consultation, you must approach one of the most experienced nurse attorneys in Texas, Yong J. An. He has assisted numerous nursing license cases since 2006. You may contact him by calling (832)-428-567 if you wish to learn more information should you undergo accusations or any other case that may affect your license.