When the Texas Board of Nursing (BON) summoned you, you should seek a nurse attorney for defense. Any RN or LVN found guilty for violating the state laws and regulations may be subjected to a disciplinary case such as revocation or suspension of her RN or LVN license. The trend is for employers to refer a case to the Texas Board of Nursing to discipline nurse and at the same time terminate your employment in most of the cases.
One of the best examples includes the following:
During the time of the initial incident, the RN was employed in a nursing home in Dallas and had been in the position for more than sixteen years already.
On or about July 22, 2017, the RN failed to ensure the proper performance of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on a patient when he was found unresponsive in that she didn’t speak out that the resuscitation bag was not connected to the patient’s tracheostomy for rescue breathing when it was determined that the patient was not breathing.
In addition, she failed to use the Automated External Defibrillator (AED) when there was no pulse after rounds of CPR compressions. Emergency Medical Service (EMS) was called, and the patient was pronounced dead.
Her conduct was likely to injure the resident from lack of appropriate nursing care, including possible demise.
The Texas Board of Nursing summoned the RN. During the defense, she states that the Registered Nurse directed others involved in the CPR, and directed her to focus on chest compressions while the Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) was directed to focus on ventilation.
She indicates that the RN said that the patient’s chest wasn’t rising. She relates it was most likely due to the ambubag mask being on the mouth/nose, rather than on the trach tube. The RN further explains it wasn’t her role to ensure that the rescue bag was connected to the patient’s trach for rescue breathing, that she couldn’t have done both compressions and rescue breathing, and she can’t be held responsible for not performing CPR properly.
She also indicates that when there’s not a facility policy that explicitly details the person who would be responsible for directing others in a Code Blue, confusion can result, and rescuers aren’t sure whether to abide by their own knowledge, or trust a more educated team member.
The RN additionally indicates that the facility’s policy regarding AED uses required order by the physician, which was not in the resident’s records. She explains that the patient didn’t have a witnessed sudden collapse, and it’s unknown for how long the patient had been without spontaneous respirations, making the possibility of successful resuscitation very unlikely regardless of what measures were taken.
However, she failed to hire a nurse attorney to defend her case. Because of this, she was disciplined and her license was suspended.
This case could have been properly defended had the RN seek help from an experienced nurse attorney.
Do you have questions about the Texas Board of Nursing disciplinary process? Contact The Law Office of nurse attorney Yong J. An for a confidential consultation by calling or texting 24/7 at (832) 428-5679 and ask for nurse attorney Yong.