Documentations have been a signature specialty of a nurse attorney when handling cases for some nurses. However, some nurses tend to forget this fact because they really felt like they should be responsible even if they never intended to commit such an error.
On or about August 22, 2012, an LVN failed to perform a twenty-four (24) hour chart check to verify current orders and therefore failed to enter physician orders for a patient. Her conduct created an incomplete medical record and was likely to injure the patient in that subsequent caregivers would not have accurate or complete information to base their decisions for further care.
On the same day, the LVN incorrectly labeled a patient’s lab specimens with another patient’s information. Her conduct unnecessarily exposed both patients to the risk of harm from incorrectly reported lab results.
During the hearing, the LVN explains that it was routine for both the oncoming shift and outgoing shift to check the orders together so she doesn’t see how she forgot orders and was not called on it by the oncoming shift that was checking the chart with her. She states that she was the one who noticed that the patient’s labs had been mislabeled after the wrong patient’s chart labels had been inserted in said patient’s chart. She explains that she called the lab and informed them and did not try to conceal her mistake.
However, the LVN failed to hire an effective nurse attorney to help her defend her side. As a result, the Texas Board of Nursing placed her LVN license to disciplinary action. It’s too bad that she failed to hire a nurse attorney for assistance, knowing that she had every reason to defend herself in the first place. Her defense would have gotten better if she actually sought legal consultation from a Texas nurse attorney as well.
So if you’re facing a complaint from the Board, it’s best to seek legal advice first. Texas Nurse Attorney Yong J. An is willing to assist every nurse in need of immediate help for nurse licensing cases. To contact him, please dial (832)-428-5679 for a confidential consultation or for more inquiries.