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.
One such incident occurred on or about August 17, 2017 and September 1, 2017 to a RN in El Paso, Texas. During the said period of time, the RN falsely documented nursing notes and visits, that were not made, in the medical records for a patient. Furthermore, after facility staff informed RN that the patient passed away on August 15, 2017, the RN admitted that she “really screwed up” and requested not to see patients anymore.
This issue was filed as a complaint and sent to the Texas Board of Nursing. The Texas Board of Nursing has full jurisdiction in all cases that may affect the status of an RN or LVN’s license in the future. But they advise nurses to attend a hearing first before placing the sentence, which the RN attended for her career’s security.
During the defense, she states she made a clerical error due to completing nursing notes on two (2) different online system, which had been recently updated and she was still learning. The RN further relates she admitted her documentation mistakes to facility leadership after she learned that the patient was deceased.
The RN’s conduct created an inaccurate medical record and was likely to defraud and deceive the facility of money paid to the RN for hours not actually worked. In addition, her conduct was likely to injure the patient in that subsequent care givers would rely on her documentation for further care.
As a result, the Texas Board of Nursing placed her RN 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.