Kansas and Missouri Professional Licensing Attorney Danielle Sanger Describes How Nurses Can Enhance their Practice and Avoid Discipline

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The news is full of reports of hair-raising medical malpractice cases. But any nurse can tell you that these incidents are really quite rare. That is not to say that patients are not injured due to mistakes; on the contrary, patients are injured, but these injuries more commonly arise from minor mistakes that compound over time, not from massive, single incidents. For nurses, these mistakes commonly arise during observations, when the nurse is checking in on the patient’s health, condition, and progress.  Because documentation is so necessary in nursing, these lapses and mistakes are often easy to catch and result in discipline.

I wrote the following blog post to explain how better observations can improve your chances of avoiding discipline. If you are a nurse in Kansas or Missouri facing an allegation of misconduct or an investigation, call attorney Sanger today at 785-979-4353 to schedule a free consultation. Your career, reputation, and livelihood are at risk, and the challenge facing you is one you cannot work your way through alone.

How Careful Patient Observations Help You Avoid Discipline

As a nurse, you must properly observe, assess and monitor your patients’ care. Injury and death may result from a lapse in this duty, resulting in discipline against you and even legal claims.  As I said above, it is fairly rare that a single, dramatic lapse causes this sort of unfortunate result; usually, it is caused by the slow accumulation of sloppy practices and shortcuts.

It may sound strange, but you have an opportunity to create the evidence that will be used against you in a licensing case.  What I mean is that your written patient observation notes are the best evidence of your innocence or your guilt. Your failure to keep records of your observations and actions is the best possible evidence against you—don’t give the licensing board an easy case! Instead, always be diligent about documenting that you monitored vitals, provided medications, noted changes in the patient’s condition, and any other care you provide. While time-consuming, making these behaviors a habitual practice will pay dividends in the long-run.

Stay Current on Your Required Professional Education

As a professional, you should want to be up to date regarding changes in your field. As you are well aware, technology and treatment protocols change rapidly. Stay up to date with these changes by maintaining your professional education requirements; failure to do so is often used as evidence when an error occurs. Importantly, if you fail to integrate these new practices into your patient care, this glaring omission will stand out to a board imposing discipline. Do not give the state licensing board their case against you—stay up to date on your training.

Hire an Experienced Licensing Attorney if Allegations Arise

While taking the above steps will help you avoid allegations, hospital politics, disappointed patients, and other factors outside your control can still lead to accusations. Too many nurses believe that they can talk their way through the discipline process. You can’t. If any allegation arises against you, contact an experienced licensing attorney immediately.

Contact an Experienced Kansas and Missouri Licensing Attorney Now for the Advice You Need

You have worked too hard to attain your nursing license to lose it because you failed to attain the sort of professional legal advice you needed when an allegation was made against you. Taking the above steps to improve your observations is just one piece of helpful information; speak with an experienced licensing defense attorney to arm yourself with the other essential parts of advice you need—it 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 your nursing license. Call Attorney Sanger at 785-979-4353 to schedule a free consultation with an attorney experienced dealing with professional licensing issues.

 

 

 

 

Kansas and Missouri Professional Licensing Attorney Danielle Sanger Provides an Overview of Licensing Boards

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Many people come to my office holding a notice from a state licensing board, and their first questions usually involve the powers and protocols of that board. As a result, I receive many questions regarding licensing boards, such as why they exist and what are the scope of their powers. I have written the following blog post to answer those questions.

If you are a licensed professional in Kansas or Missouri facing an allegation of misconduct or an investigation, call attorney Sanger today at 785-979-4353 to schedule a free consultation. Your career, reputation, and livelihood are at risk, and the challenge facing you is one you cannot work your way through alone.

The Constitution Protects Your Property Interest in Your License

The U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment prevents the state from taking your “life, liberty, or property” without due process of law. You have a property interest in your license; while it is not a piece of land or a house that you pay for, it is an object that you invested time and money into attaining.  Accordingly, the state cannot take or diminish that property—your license—without due process of law.

There are a tremendous number of settings where the state has to provide due process. If the state is going to take your life using the death penalty, there are extensive court requirements, including the right to a jury trial and appeals. Similarly, if the state is going to take your liberty by putting you in jail, you will have hearings and a trial first.  But if the state is going to suspend your professional license, a less onerous deprivation, it usually delegates the due process hearing to an administrative body.  That administrative body develops expertise in the areas it is charged with regulating and bears responsibility for disciplining members of a professional group.  The administrative body is the state licensing board.

Due process is often associated with courts and legal proceedings.  But the licensing board does not have to take you to court to suspend your license or to impose other discipline. For the licensing board to impose discipline, the due process requirements are relatively straightforward—the state must provide you with notice of the allegations against you and any penalties that may be imposed as a result; the state must provide you with an opportunity to review the information being used to support those allegations; and the state must provide you with a chance to state your argument in opposition to the allegations against you.

Accordingly, in both Kansas and Missouri we have licensing boards that govern all of each states’ licensed professionals.  They set standards for attaining licenses, establish criteria for maintaining a license and investigate and discipline license-holders who may have fallen short of licensing requirements.  If a license holder disagrees with the licensing board’s decision, those decisions may be appealed to the courts, all the way to the state supreme court, for further review.

Contact an Experienced Kansas and Missouri Licensing Attorney Now for the Advice You Need

You have worked too hard to attain your professional license to lose it because you failed to attain professional legal advice when you needed it. You need to speak to a licensing attorney as soon as you become aware that there are allegations concerning your professional conduct or ethics.  Contacting an experienced licensing attorney now 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 your license. Call Attorney Sanger at 785-979-4353 to schedule a free consultation with an attorney experienced dealing with professional licensing issues.

 

 

 

 

Kansas and Missouri Professional Licensing Attorney Danielle Sanger Asks: Is Your Real Estate Assistant Putting Your License at Risk?

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Real estate agents are respected members of the Kansas and Missouri professional communities.  But like any other professionals, real estate agents have to maintain good standing with their licensing agency if they want to continue their career. In particular, I have seen cases recently where realtors either fail to supervise their assistants or allow their assistants to have too significant a role in transactions. Either type of activity can result in discipline for the supervising realtor.

If you are a real estate professional in Kansas or Missouri facing an allegation of misconduct or an investigation, call attorney Sanger today at 785-979-4353 to schedule a free consultation. Your career, reputation, and livelihood are at risk, and the challenge facing you is one you cannot work your way through alone.

Failure to Supervise and Allowing Unlicensed Activity

One of the realities of being a real estate agent is that there is way more work than there are hours in the day to perform it all.  As a result, successful realtors frequently hire real estate assistants who perform more run of the mill aspects of the work so that the realtor can devote time to focusing on getting new business and closing the big deals.  While this sort of division of labor results in significant efficiency and economies of scale, it can also result in ethical violations that can cost the supervising realtor his or her license.

Realtors frequently find themselves in hot water when they do not supervise their employees’ creation of promotional materials, contact with clients, and other duties. Whether knowingly or not, employees become empowered, take on more complex tasks, and begin performing duties that only a licensed realtor is allowed to perform.  This results in two types of license problems, failure to supervise and allowing the unlicensed activity.

As a real estate professional, you know that there are certain activities that only someone holding a real estate license can engage in.  In a failure to supervise case, the state alleges that a realtor’s subordinates engaged in behaviors reserved for realtors and that the licensed realtor failed to prevent this behavior. Similarly, an unlicensed activity case alleges that a realtor allowed those working for him or her to engage in professional activities reserved for licensed realtors. Here is a list of activities that are generally prohibited for real estate assistants, and that are frequently the cause of licensing issues for their supervisors: showing properties, hosting open houses, explaining listings or contracts to buyers or sellers, negotiating, conducting or gathering business on behalf of a realtor.

Contact an Experienced Kansas and Missouri Licensing Attorney Now for the Advice You Need

You have worked too hard to attain your real estate license to lose it because you failed to attain professional legal advice in a timely fashion. Reviewing the allegations against you, getting your evidence in order, and deposing witnesses are just a few of the important tasks a licensing attorney will perform to best position you to avoid any sort of discipline.  I also have tremendous experience working with licensing agencies and can negotiate an agreeable penalty if no successful defense is available. Contacting an experienced licensing attorney can mean the difference between getting back to helping your real estate clients and losing your career forever.

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

 

Kansas and Missouri Professional Licensing Attorney Danielle Sanger Explains How a DUI Can Affect Your Teaching License

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In our society, those who work with children are held to an extremely high standard. The standard is so high that a teacher will often get into licensing or employment trouble for behavior that would have little or no effect on a doctor, lawyer, or engineer. Whether this is fair or unfair is beside the point—it is a fact of life.  As a result, teachers often worry what the effect of a DUI will be on their careers.  If you are an educator here in Kansas or Missouri who has been charged with driving under the influence, call attorney Sanger today at 785-979-4353 to schedule a free consultation.

The Effects of a DUI Will Depend on Several Factors

DUI is the most common criminal offense committed by educators.  While it is a common offense, the effect of a DUI on your career varies widely and will depend on many factors—the circumstances surrounding the DUI, where you are in your teaching career, and whether you have had other DUI’s in the past.

Not all DUI cases are built the same. If you receive a DUI on the weekend and are just over the legal limit for driving, the arrest does not necessarily suggest that drinking is affecting your classroom performance.  On the other hand, if you receive a DUI charge while driving to or from work, it indicates that your drinking may be affecting your classroom performance.  In the latter scenario, expect employer and state scrutiny. Finally, a DUI that suggests that you have or would endanger children—such as a DUI while driving a summer camp van—is likely to be particularly problematic.

Your professional teaching status will affect how a DUI charge impacts your career. If you are an aspiring teacher, you may now have a DUI charge come up on every background check. If the circumstances of your DUI show poor judgement or severe disregard for public safety, it may become an issue with the state licensing agency and will likely be seen as a problem by employers. You will have to be prepared to address the issue with state investigators and prospective employers forthrightly.  You will need to have a strong body of evidence that suggests that this was a one-time occurrence to defuse notions that you are not fit to teach.

If you are already a teacher but are not tenured, a DUI may reflect poorly on you and may influence the tenure process in subtle or not-so-subtle ways, especially if the DUI had any overlap with your teaching duties.  Finally, if you are a tenured teacher, a DUI charge or conviction may have little effect on your employment provided that it did not otherwise reflect poor judgment or impact your work in the classroom.

Before any license or employment action can begin against you, the body seeking to discipline you must provide you with notice of any allegations and the evidence against you. It is a grave mistake to try to “be helpful” or to talk your way out of this situation. Only an experienced licensing attorney has the sort of experience you require to maintain your career and livelihood.

Contact an Experienced Kansas and Missouri Licensing Attorney Now for the Advice You Need

You have worked too hard to attain your teaching license to lose it because you failed to attain professional legal advice promptly after being charged with DUI.   Contacting an experienced licensing attorney can mean the difference between getting back to the classroom and your students and losing your career forever.

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