Kansas and Missouri Professional Licensing Attorney Danielle Sanger: Misconduct Allegations that Can Ruin a Nursing Career

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The public has a high degree of respect for nurses. Allegations of misconduct, even misconduct unrelated to your profession and occurring outside of work, can derail a nurses career with a license suspension or revocation. Because nurses enjoy the public’s trust, any allegation that calls that trust into question can threaten your license.  

If you are a Kansas or Missouri nurse and allegations of misconduct arise against you, call attorney Sanger today at 785-979-4353 to schedule a free consultation with an experienced and aggressive attorney for nurses facing occupational discipline. You do not have time to waste and can damage your career by trying to deal with these allegations without professional help.

Allegations Involving Conduct Outside of the Workplace

A disciplinary action can be triggered by a wide variety of behaviors.  The following is a list of types of conduct that I have seen trigger investigations into clients’ licensure:

• Shoplifting

• Falling behind on child support payments

• Urinating in public

• Domestic abuse

• Having a restraining order against you

• Public intoxication

• Harassment or stalking

• Fighting

• Failing to file income taxes

This list represents conduct that a nurse may irresponsibly engage in outside of the workplace. But because there may a criminal citation or a mention of the conduct in the local “police blotter,” the employer finds out about the conduct and an investigation ensues.  There is a real question whether this conduct, which has occurred outside of the work environment, can be used against a nurse to pursue professional discipline. Thus, if these sorts of incidents occur and trigger an investigation, it is vital that you contact a licensing attorney immediately.

Allegations Involving Conduct In the Workplace

The above are just a selection chosen to show the diversity of conduct that can trigger an investigation. Boundary violation, such as having a sexual relationship with a patient or treating a patient with whom you have a financial relationship is also a frequent cause for investigation. In urban areas of Kansas or Missouri, it may be easy to simply hand off a patient with whom your relationship is too close. But in smaller communities or medical centers, that sort of handoff may be more complex and may be impossible to do without revealing your inappropriate relationship.

Drug and alcohol abuse is a problem in the nursing community; when that abuse is present in the workplace, it routinely results in serious allegations of misconduct and significant repercussions for the accused’s nursing license. If your use of drugs or alcohol is out of your control, get help.

Finally, social media has become an increasingly significant source of misconduct allegations. You have probably heard of the nurses who were suspended from duties for mocking and deriding newborn babies in videos that were later posted on-line. Remember that your social media profile is an extension of you and your professional identity—guard it.

What Should You Do If You Are Accused of Misconduct?

There is no time to waste if you are accused of misconduct. Too many nurses try to talk their way out of these allegations, with dire consequences. You should not respond to an investigation until you have attained representation by a skilled licensing attorney. Having a zealous advocate by your side challenging the validity of the evidence against you and cross-examining those who testify against you is not a luxury, it is a necessity.

If you are a nurse in Kansas or Missouri and are facing an allegation of a boundary violation, call Danielle Sanger today.

Kansas and Missouri professional licensing attorney Danielle Sanger is prepared to advocate for your best interests and defend your livelihood and career. Call Attorney Sanger today at 785-979-4353 to schedule a free consultation with an experienced and aggressive attorney for nurses facing occupational discipline. 

Kansas and Missouri Professional Licensing Attorney Danielle Sanger: Can My Dental License Be Reinstated?

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A dental career is the product of a lifetime of education and hard work. As a result of your drive, you have the ability to engage in a meaningful, well respected, and lucrative career. But what if your dental license lapses, is suspended or is revoked? What steps do you need to take to return to your chosen profession? If you are a Kansas or Missouri dentist seeking to be reinstated call attorney Sanger today at 785-979-4353 to schedule a free consultation with an attorney experienced dealing with the reinstatement of dental licenses. 

Reinstating a Dental License in Kansas or Missouri

A dentist’s license can be suspended, expired, or revoked for a number of reasons. If it is simply lapsed because the dentist moved out of state or wanted to change professions, it will likely be less of a task to reinstate than if the license is suspended or revoked as a result of misconduct.

If your license was suspended or revoked as a result of misconduct, beyond the normal reinstatement steps, you likely also have to complete whatever terms that the state Dental Board wrote into your sanction. Whether that was a certain length of suspension without incident, certification that you are no longer drug or alcohol dependent, or proof that your record or billing is now being handled by a responsible third party, you will have to prove that you have fulfilled these obligations by submitting thorough documentation in addition to the normal reinstatement steps.

Time is also a factor. As you can imagine, if your license has been inactive for twenty years, there will be a legitimate concern that you are no longer proficient. As a result, there is a different process for reinstating your license depending on the length of time your license has been expired, suspended or revoked.

Short-Term Inactivity

If your dentistry license has been inactive for any reason for less than five years, the process for reinstatement is less burdensome than if it has been inactive longer than five years. You will need to submit documentation proving that you have had 48 hours of continuing education in the past three years and pay an application fee.

Long-Term Inactivity 

If more than five years have passed since your license was active, then you will have to show that you have practiced in some other jurisdiction for three out of the last five years or an affidavit of military service. Additionally, you will have to produce documentation of 48 hours of continuing education within the last three years and a certification of basic life support training by the American Heart Association or American Red Cross.

Reinstatement After Military Service

The above requirements do not apply if you are applying to reinstate your license after military service. So long as your application for reinstatement is made within two years, you will be automatically reinstated without any fees or requirements.

Contact an Experienced Kansas and Missouri Licensing Attorney Now

You deserve to be practicing dentistry again and should not let your inactive Kansas or Missouri dental license stop you. Contact an experienced licensing attorney help you through the reinstatement process can mean the difference between getting back to work quickly and a drawn-out process. 

Kansas and Missouri Professional Licensing Attorney Danielle Sanger: Do Not Let Allegations Around Boundary Violations Derail Your Nursing Career

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Given nurses’ backbreaking workload and extensive one-on-one contact with patients, allegations of misconduct stemming from “boundary violations” are not a surprise. These allegations can ruin a career, as they not only suggest that the nurse has had some form of inappropriate relationship with a patient, but that he or she can also not be trusted. If you are a Kansas or Missouri nurse and allegations of boundary violations have arisen against you, call attorney Sanger today at 785-979-4353 to schedule a free consultation with an experienced and aggressive attorney for nurses facing occupational discipline. 

“Stepping over the line” with a patient is all too easy to do. Whether it is showing them inappropriate affection, accepting or giving gifts, or exchanging personal information, boundary violations imply that you are improperly taking advantage of your personal relationship with a patient.

Patient Boundaries

The National Council of State Boards of Nursing describes “boundaries” as a space between the nurse’s power and the patient’s helplessness. A boundary violation can arise in one of three ways:

• Boundary crossing: This may include accepting gifts from a patient, sharing personal information or allowing the patient to develop a dependence or comradery beyond what is therapeutically necessary. These behaviors may seem innocent but can easily lead to misunderstandings or more serious breaches.

• Boundary abuse: Commonly, nurses step over the line through privacy violations. NCSBN adds that if you engage in any behavior with a patient that has no therapeutic value, you may be violating the boundary.

• Misconduct: Inappropriate relations with a patient do not have to be sexual to be forbidden. While physical contact of a personal nature with a patient, including kissing, is a violation of conduct, even discussing having a relationship or using suggestive language while a patient is in your care violates the boundary. This rule extends to family members of the patient.

Allegations that you have engaged in behavior that constitutes any of these boundary violations may result in the suspension or revocation of your nursing license. 

What Happens After an Allegation of a Boundary Violation?

As a licensing attorney, I always try to achieve the best possible outcome for my client. There are always two roads to that outcome, negotiating some sort of deal or going to a hearing. Obviously, a negotiated penalty is attractive because it is a low-risk choice with a known outcome. On the other hand, a hearing is a high-risk choice with a possibility of prevailing with no discipline or losing and facing an unknown penalty.

Preparing for a hearing and challenging the evidence being used against you is the vital to both prevailing ultimately at a hearing and to getting the best possible offer of a lesser penalty. Excluding hearsay—rumors and other unsubstantiated statements—against you, challenging the validity of evidence, and making an administrative board second-guess the strength of the case against you will result in their settlement offer becoming increasingly favorable to you. 

In my experience, administrative hearing boards and their experienced attorneys make “low ball” settlement offers to unrepresented nurses early on in cases. Without the advice of counsel, these offers may seem like generous ways to avoid the extreme penalties that could be imposed after a hearing.  However, what licensing attorneys know is that the case against you always has flaws, and that “low ball” offer is simply a first attempt to get you to give up on a hearing where those flaws may be exposed. Those offers are to be avoided, especially when they include permanent discipline, prohibitions on working for periods of time, or other onerous conditions. 

After hiring a licensing attorney with experience before the board seeking to discipline you, the offers to settle usually get much more attractive. An aggressive challenge to the evidence against you and a willingness to go to a hearing often results in a dismissal of charges of misconduct. But that sort of outcome is not going to come about without an experienced advocate by your side.

I sometimes urge clients to accept reasonable offers when the risk of a serious penalty after a hearing is simply too great to accept. Sometimes clients accept deals because their fear of an unknown outcome drives their decision-making. That said, the decision to settle a case instead of going to a hearing is ultimately yours. 

Contact an Experienced Kansas and Missouri Licensing Attorney Now

There is no time to waste if you are accused of a boundary violation. Too many nurses try to talk their way out of these allegations, try to represent themselves before licensing boards, or accept “low ball” initial offers with long-lasting consequences. You should not respond to an investigation until you have attained representation by a skilled licensing attorney. Having a zealous advocate by your side challenging the validity of the evidence against you and cross-examining those who testify against you is not a luxury, it is a necessity.

If you are a nurse in Kansas or Missouri and are facing an allegation of a boundary violation, call Danielle Sanger today.

Kansas and Missouri professional licensing attorney Danielle Sanger is prepared to advocate for your best interests and defend your livelihood and career. Call Attorney Sanger today at 785-979-4353 to schedule a free consultation with an experienced and aggressive attorney for nurses facing occupational discipline. 

Kansas and Missouri Professional Licensing Attorney Danielle Sanger: A Cautionary Tale of Physician Misconduct

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There is an opioid epidemic in the United States. As a result, there is increasing attention on doctors who prescribe opioids and an eagerness to blame those doctors for the tragedy caused by opioids. Given that backdrop, it is not unusual for doctors to find themselves accused of misconduct involving prescriptions. Some doctors are too informal with how they handle these powerful drugs, but others are wrongly accused by patients who make accusations when their doctors cut off their opioid supply. If you are a Kansas or Missouri doctor and allegations of misconduct are made against you, call attorney Sanger today at 785-979-4353 to schedule a free consultation with an experienced and aggressive attorney for physicians facing occupational discipline. 

A Cautionary Tale of Misconduct by a Medical Professional

In Maryland, Dr. Walter Kozachuk routinely sold opioid prescriptions to patrons at a bar, selling prescriptions for anti-anxiety drugs and painkillers for $100 each. As a result of this conduct, the Maryland medical board suspended his medical license for two years. He appealed that suspension, and on December 15, 2017, a Maryland appeals court upheld the suspension.

Avoiding Misconduct Allegations in Your Medical Practice

The opioid epidemic did not just happen accidentally. These powerful drugs became widely and illegally distributed for a number of reasons—drug-seeking patients learned how to game the system, doctors blinded by greed ignored abuse, and unethical clinic managers made the drugs easier to attain than they should have been. Those are the sources of the problem; accordingly, you must do whatever you can to avoid those problems if you want to stay clear of misconduct allegations. The following is some of the most common advice that I give clients who ask how to avoid these problems.

First, do not associate with clinics that have a reputation as a “pill mill,” as they usually earned that reputation. Second, avoid practicing alone, where lapses will go unchecked; instead, associate with a group and hold each other accountable. Third, be scrupulous with your record keeping. Good record keeping is your best defense when allegations of misconduct arise, and sloppy records can appear incriminating, even in instances when you have done nothing wrong. Carefully documenting the identity of who you prescribed to is key. Fourth, pay close attention to your staff and hold them to the same high standard of professionalism that you hold yourself to. Your staff can be your Achilles heel, engaging in illegal activity that you would never contemplate, but that you will be held responsible for. Finally, never allow a non-physician to control your practice, keep sole control of your books, or have sole access to your medical records.

What Should You Do If You Are Accused of Misconduct?

There is no time to waste if you are accused of misconduct. You have spent your entire life working towards becoming a physician, but your profession can be taken from you in an instant.  Too many physicians try to talk their way out of these allegations and then call me. By then, your novice attempt has usually given those investigating you everything they need. You should not respond to an investigation until you have attained representation by a skilled licensing attorney. Having a zealous advocate by your side challenging the validity of the evidence against you and cross-examining those who testify against you is not a luxury, it is a necessity.

If you are a nurse in Kansas or Missouri and are facing a misconduct allegation, call Danielle Sanger today.

Kansas and Missouri professional licensing attorney Danielle Sanger is prepared to advocate for your best interests and defend your livelihood and career. Call Attorney Sanger today at 785-979-4353 to schedule a free consultation with an experienced and aggressive attorney for physicians facing board discipline.