Missouri Professional Licensing Attorney Danielle Sanger Explains Missouri Dental Board Complaint Process

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Dentists enjoy tremendous respect from their patients and community because they are professionals providing a valuable service. The vast majority of dentists go through their career without any disciplinary issues, so they are often entirely unfamiliar with the complaint and discipline process here in Missouri. There are many reasons why these otherwise rule following dentists receive notices of complaints, which I will detail below. I will also describe the two different complaint resolution processes and what you should do if the Missouri Dental Board contacts you about a complaint.

If you are a dentist in Missouri facing an investigation, call attorney Sanger today at 785-979-4353 to schedule a free consultation. Do not agree to any resolution process, speak to an investigator, or agree to any temporary suspension without the assistance of a licensing attorney. Your career, reputation, and livelihood are at risk, and the challenge facing you is one you cannot navigate alone.

Why Good Dentists Get Accused of Misconduct

As I said earlier, most dentists here in Missouri are law-abiding, rule-following pillars of their communities.  While some commit severe lapses in judgment that result in discipline, such as sexually abusing a patient or self-prescribing, others are accused of misconduct when they have done nothing wrong. I see an increase in cases linked to the nation’s opioid crisis. People are addicted to these drugs that may have been legitimately prescribed to them at some point. Others go to the dentist with phantom symptoms to convince the dentist that opioids should be prescribed. Either way, when the dentist stops filling out prescriptions for opioids, the patient often uses the Missouri Dental Board Complaint process as a tool to leverage more drugs. If the dentist refuses to prescribe more opioids, a complaint ensues.

The Missouri Complaint Process

In Missouri, a complaint to the Missouri Dental Board can be handled two different ways, either through the Peer Review Program or the Missouri Dental Board complaint process.

Peer Review provides an alternative dispute resolution mechanism, at no cost to either party. Peer Review is a where other dentists review and attempt to resolve dental treatment problems and misunderstandings through mediation. The process may involve merely talking through a complaint or may require a clinical review of the accused dentist’s practice. One important point to note is that you may not be represented by counsel in the Peer Review process.

The Missouri Dental Board process is more formal and operates more like a court. The dental board will notify the dentist of the complaint, investigate the complaint, and offer a hearing. The Dental Board will have legal counsel, and the accused dentist is well-advised to have counsel as well.  A licensing attorney is an asset before the Board, as few dentists know how to cross-examine witnesses, challenge evidence’s credibility and relevance, and understand how to proceed strategically through the administrative process.

What You Should Do if You are Contacted About Misconduct

Because most attorneys are law-abiding and rule-following members of their communities, they all-to-often believe that “coming clean” and admitting misconduct is the right thing to do when they are accused of misconduct. While that is an admirable worldview, it rarely results in the favorable outcome that the dentist intends. Let me be clear, I want my clients to tell the truth and to be forthcoming, but I want them to do those things strategically.  If you just admit to misconduct without accompanying legal advice, you are more likely than not hurting your case, not helping it. I advise clients to exercise their rights to remain silent and simply say that they will be happy to speak with an investigator once they have an opportunity to consult with an attorney. Having worked for boards myself, I know that this statement is never taken as nefarious by investigators; they also know that this is the best course to take.

Contact an Experienced Kansas and Missouri Licensing Attorney Now

You have worked too hard to attain your dental license to lose it because you failed to attain competent legal advice when you needed it.  If you are a Missouri dentist and you have received a notice of complaint from the Missouri Dental Board, you need to know that this is a dire situation and that the process could result in a loss of licensure.

An inquiry from a licensing board means that your livelihood is in jeopardy. Contacting an experienced licensing attorney to help you through this process and can mean the difference between getting back to helping your patients or clients and losing your career forever.

Kansas and Missouri professional licensing attorney Danielle Sanger is prepared to advocate for your best interests and defend you. Call Attorney Sanger at 785-979-4353 to schedule a free consultation with an attorney experienced dealing with licensing issues.

Kansas and Missouri Professional Licensing Attorney Danielle Sanger Provides an Overview of the Nursing Complaint Process

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I have seen nurses’ lives and careers devastated because they agreed to a “voluntary suspension” of their nursing license or to speak to an investigator without the assistance of an attorney while the nursing board investigated allegations of misconduct. While the nurse under investigation believed that “playing ball” or helping the investigators would help their case, this seemingly positive action had tremendous negative consequences.

If you are a nurse in Kansas or Missouri facing an investigation that jeopardizes your professional license, call attorney Sanger today at 785-979-4353 to schedule a free consultation.

What Should You Do If an Investigator Contacts You?

If you are a licensed nurse in Missouri or Kansas and have been contacted by a state nursing board investigator, it means that a complaint was made against you. More troubling, it indicates that the state nursing board believed that the complaint had some merit and was worth investigating.  Former patients, former coworkers, or an employer can file a complaint against you. The complaint can be based on procedural grounds—you made a mistake or were negligent in treating a patient—or on ethical grounds.  Ethical grounds cover behavior within and without the treatment context, such as having an inappropriate relationship with a patient or getting charged with a crime.

What Can I Expect Now That an Investigator has Contacted Me?

If a nursing board investigator contacts you, the board has found enough evidence of wrongdoing to warrant further inquiry into your conduct. The investigator’s job is to find out the facts by interviewing witnesses, requesting documents, and reviewing treatment records. They will request a meeting an interview with  you. They commonly require that you submit a written statement describing the incident that led to the complaint. For each of these stages, you will benefit from having the assistance of an experienced licensing attorney’s help. I previously advised these boards and have seen how poorly drafted statements and incomplete records resulted in devastating results for nurses who tried to “go it alone.” Even small improvements based on years of experience can mean the difference between a dismissal and a finding.

What Happens After the Investigator Finishes His or Her Inquiry?

An investigation takes several months to conclude, depending on the complexity and availability of evidence. When the investigation ends, the investigator submits a summary report. Further action, including discipline, is decided based on the summary report. Discipline may include:

Dismissal– This is the best outcome. This results when the nursing board determines that the behavior alleged does not rise to the level of a violation.

Private Caution Letter– This outcome is not as good as a dismissal, but is favored over discipline. A caution letter involves the board privately admonishing and warning the nurse under investigation that his or her conduct—while not warranting discipline—was imprudent or unwise. The board will remind the nurse under investigation of applicable rules and laws governing the profession.

Formal Complaint –This outcome should be avoided at all costs. It involves the board finding a regulatory or statutory violation. The nurse under investigation often has the option to sign a consent agreement or may refuse to sign the consent agreement and instead request a full hearing before the board. If the nurse signs a consent agreement, he or she agrees that a violation occurred and to a set penalty. If the nurse goes before the board, they have another opportunity to challenge the investigation’s validity and to contest the investigator’s findings.  The board will then punish the nurse as they see fit.

As the above process indicates, the investigator’s findings and recommendations will determine the course of action in your case. The matter could be resolved quickly and favorably or may be drawn out. Having an attorney with experience before the board is invaluable at this step. Do not let an investigation ruin what you have worked so hard to build. If a state nursing board investigator has contacted you, seek the help of an experienced licensing attorney immediately.

Contact an Experienced Kansas and Missouri Licensing Attorney Now

You have worked too hard to attain your nursing license.  If you are a nurse under investigation, do not agree to any suspension of any kind or speak to an investigator without an attorney to defend you. Your career, reputation, and livelihood are at risk, and the challenge facing you is one you cannot navigate alone. Contacting an experienced licensing attorney to help you through this process and can mean the difference between getting back to helping your patients and losing your career forever.

Kansas and Missouri professional licensing attorney Danielle Sanger is prepared to advocate for your best interests and defend you. Call Attorney Sanger at 785-979-4353 to schedule a free consultation with an attorney prepared to guide you through your with licensing issues.

 

Kansas and Missouri Professional Licensing Attorney Danielle Sanger Explains the Kansas Pharmacist Complaint and Investigation Process

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Given the opioid crisis occurring in the United States and the uptick in complaints against pharmacists, I have recently defended pharmacists accused of violations here in Kansas. As someone who actually provided legal advice to medical boards in the past, I can also tell you that I have seen well-meaning professionals have their lives destroyed because they decided to try to represent themselves. No matter how seemingly inconsequential your case seems, attempting to represent yourself is a massive mistake. Because I have seen a rise in the number of chiropractor complaints over the years, I wrote the following blog post and attached a Kansas Board of Pharmacy overview for your review.

If you are a chiropractor here in Kansas facing an investigation that jeopardizes your professional license, call attorney Sanger today at 785-979-4353 to schedule a free consultation.

You Have a Constitutional Right to Due Process

The Kansas Board of Pharmacy is an administrative arm of the State of Kansas. So when the Kansas Board of Pharmacy begins actions that could result in the loss of your license, that is the state acting to take your property from you. Any time the government acts to restrict your life, liberty, or property it must first provide you with “due process,” a legal term that means you must have an opportunity to know the allegations against you, to review the evidence underlying those allegations, and to have an opportunity to “confront” that evidence in a meeting with an investigator.

While you could probably struggle through an investigation on your own and could likely even sit through a hearing, you want someone by your side that has been through hundreds of proceedings like yours. A licensing attorney can challenge the state’s evidence and can even have it excluded. Similarly, a licensing attorney can effectively cross-examine witnesses and access expert witnesses that can help your case.

The Initial Stage of an Investigation

Most reports received by the Kansas Board of Pharmacy come from consumers as formal complaints, but there are a host of other sources.  Some complaints originate with employers, the court system, law enforcement, neighbors, relatives, or other agencies. Once a complaint comes in, an investigator is assigned to begin gathering facts and evidence. It is vital that you remember that you have the right to legal help throughout the investigative process.

What Does an Investigation Look Like?

State investigators from the Kansas Board of Pharmacy will review medical records, personnel records, agency records, and records of discipline on licensing from other states. They will conduct interviews of witnesses and take their statements. It best if you have documents ready and organized for the investigator’s review and do not make them search for them; obviously, this promotes an air of transparency that can only help your case.

You will also have an opportunity for an interview. It is crucial that you have an experienced licensing attorney help you prepare for your interview and be by your side as it is conducted. This is also an opportunity to provide exculpatory and mitigating evidence to the investigator, and your attorney will help you collect the evidence that is most persuasive.

The investigative process takes six to nine months to complete. Factors such as the availability of evidence, cooperativeness of witnesses, and case complexity influence how long an investigation will take.

What Happens After the Investigation?

The investigator’s work is not complete once the investigation is complete.  The investigative summary and file are forwarded to the Kansas Board of Pharmacists and is reviewed by the Investigative Member of the Board, who decides what disciplinary action should be taken.  Options include, but are not limited to 1) revocation, 2) probation, 3) monetary fines, 4) non-discipline probation agreements, 5) agreements to obtain specific CE courses, and 6) referrals to the impaired provider program.

The Kansas Board of Pharmacy will notify you once they decide your discipline. The Board must approve whatever disciplinary action is recommended against you. While this may seem like the end of the road, it isn’t. You still have an opportunity to appeal this decision to the Kansas courts. However, agency decisions such as disciplinary decisions are given great deference by the courts, so it is more effective and much cheaper to work with an experienced licensing attorney to reduce your discipline at the investigation or Board level.

Contact an Experienced Kansas Licensing Attorney Now

You have worked too hard to attain your pharmacy license.  If you are under investigation, do not agree to any suspension of any kind or speak to an investigator without an attorney to defend you. Your livelihood is at risk, and the challenge facing you is one you cannot navigate alone. Contacting an experienced licensing attorney to help you through this process and can mean the difference between getting back to helping your clients and losing your career forever.

Kansas and Missouri professional licensing attorney Danielle Sanger is prepared to advocate for your best interests and defend you. Call Attorney Sanger at 785-979-4353 to schedule a free consultation with an attorney prepared to guide you through your licensing issues.

Kansas and Missouri Professional Licensing Attorney Danielle Sanger Provides a List of Tips for Nurses Under Investigation

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Receiving a certified letter from your state licensing board indicating that they are opening an investigation into your performance as a nurse is a harrowing experience. Most nurses I know go through several stages of emotion—terror, embarrassment, anger, and fear are all common. I have helped hundreds of similarly situated nurses through this process and can assure you that many of those representations, while stressful, had positive outcomes. While I cannot provide specific legal advice for every possible situation in a blog-post, I thought it would be helpful to give an overview of general counsel that I regularly offer nurses who call me frantically upon opening a letter indicating that they are about to be investigated.  The list of general tips follows.

If you are a nurse in Kansas or Missouri facing an investigation, call attorney Sanger today at 785-979-4353 to schedule a free consultation. Do not agree to speak with an investigator without an experienced attorney by your side. Your career, reputation, and livelihood are at risk, and the challenge facing you is one you cannot navigate alone.

Advice for Nurses Receiving Notices of Investigation

  1. Hire an experienced licensing attorney immediately. The biggest mistake you can make now is trying to “go it alone” or to “work with” the investigators. Both of these are horrible strategies that routinely result in catastrophe.  Hire an expert to help you gather evidence, deal with investigators, and present the best picture of your actions.
  2. Focus on telling the truth and being transparent. Like most things in life, it is far more serious to be caught lying than caught making a mistake. Given the extensive record keeping in most medical facilities, it is extremely unlikely that you will get away with any lie you tell, and the ramifications of lying are usually significant.
  3. If you have one, contact your professional insurance carrier. If you do not have one, it is too late to attain insurance for whatever conduct is being investigated.
  4. Keep silent. As you have seen on television, “anything you say can and will be used against you.” This is a serious situation and is no time for posting about your problems on social media. All too often I see my clients’ unfortunate statements, written in a period of anger or frustration, come back to haunt them as admissions in administrative hearings. Do not speak about your case with coworkers or friends either; any of these people can be called as witnesses to testify about your statements.
  5. Do not copy patient records, even if you need them for your defense. A licensing attorney can attain the documents you need when the time comes to put on your defense. Making copies of or otherwise improperly accessing patient records is likely a HIPAA violation and will further harm your case.
  6. Do not speak to investigators, former patients, or family members of former patients. These folks are likely fishing for information from you; speaking with them hurts your case.
  7. If an investigator contacts you, refer the investigator to your attorney and do not make any statement.
  8. Remain professional. You are a member of a profession honored for its professionalism. While you may have every right to be frustrated or angry, now is not the time to give investigators the impression that you fail to meet the standards of your profession.

Contact an Experienced Kansas and Missouri Licensing Attorney Now

You have worked too hard to attain your nursing license.  An inquiry from a licensing board means that your livelihood is in jeopardy. Contacting an experienced licensing attorney to help you through this process and can mean the difference between getting back to helping your patients or clients and losing your career forever.

Kansas and Missouri professional licensing attorney Danielle Sanger is prepared to advocate for your best interests and defend you. Call Attorney Sanger at 785-979-4353 to schedule a free consultation with an attorney experienced dealing with licensing issues.