In healthcare, keeping patient safety is essential. When nurses come across issues like mistakes and unsafe situations with patients, it can be smart to get help from a Texas nurse attorney. Nurse attorneys don’t just defend legally, they also make sure everything is fair and patients are cared for properly. This helps protect the nurse and the nursing profession.
Scenario: LVN Neglects Safety Measures Leading to Patient Elopement
On or about July 22, 2021, while employed as an LVN at a healthcare facility in El Paso, Texas, and providing care for a client, LVN failed to provide a safe environment for the client, in that LVN placed the client in a raised bed, without raising the bed rails or securing the top door latch of the residence. LVN then went into the restroom and the client got out of bed and exited the residence. Additionally, LVN looked for the client for approximately ten (10) minutes before notifying the client’s parents that the client was missing. Furthermore, the client was later found near an Interstate frontage road. LVN’s conduct was likely to cause emotional, physical, and/or psychological harm to the patient and could have interfered with or disrupted this patient’s treatment.
Without seeking advice from a Texas nurse attorney, the LVN responded and explained that on the night of the incident, the client’s mother was the last person to enter the home, and to her knowledge, the front door was locked. She mentioned that she did not verify if the client’s mother also latched the top door lock, as that was not something she would typically check. The LVN described later going to use the restroom while the client was calm and in bed, and she was in the restroom for no more than two minutes. When she opened the bathroom door, she saw her purse on the floor and panicked because she knew the client only grabbed purses when he wanted to go somewhere. The LVN stated that the client was not in the house, and she thought he could not have gone far, so she got in her car and drove around the block and near the highway but did not find him. She mentioned that she immediately returned to the client’s house and woke the client’s father up, who went out on foot to look for the client while she drove around again to search for him. The LVN explained that after not finding the client, she returned to the house and assisted the client’s mother, who was calling 911 for help.
Texas Board of Nursing Disciplinary Action
The Texas Board of Nursing (BON) takes incidents of the negligence of safety measures to a patient very seriously and it constitutes disciplinary action. The BON then subjected the LVN and her license to disciplinary action. The accusation would have been defended by an experienced and skilled Texas Nurse Attorney, had the LVN hired one. Hiring a Texas Nurse Attorney for defense is applicable for any accusation against an RN or LVN.
We Are Here To Help!
Texas Nurse Attorney, Yong J. An is an experienced nurse attorney who represented more than 600 nurse cases for RNs and LVNs since 2006. You can reach him at (832) 428-5679 to get started or to inquire for more information regarding nursing license case defenses.
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